{"id":675236,"date":"2026-05-16T18:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T18:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/675236\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T18:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T18:55:11","slug":"aussie-track-aces-eclipsed-by-caldwells-diamond-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/675236\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie track aces eclipsed by Caldwell’s Diamond run"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jess Hull’s eagerly awaited 1500 metres rematch with Claudia Hollingsworth has proved a damp squib, upstaged by an unexpected podium gatecrasher Abbey Caldwell at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting.<\/p>\n

Caldwell beat both of her more garlanded compatriots after a late surge, finishing third in 3 minutes 56.12 sec in Saturday’s Diamond League opener, amazed to carve three seconds off her lifetime best to become the second-fastest Aussie of all-time.<\/p>\n

Birke Haylom clocked a world-leading 3:55.56 to lead home an Ethiopian one-two with Tsige Duguma timed at 3:55.71, but 24-year-old Caldwell burst through to run a time that only Hull has bettered among Australian women.<\/p>\n

\"Hull\"<\/p>\n

Jess Hull made the front-running but faded at the end to finish sixth in the 1500m. (EPA PHOTO)<\/p>\n

“I honestly didn’t think even mid-race it would be that good, but to get a PB, I’m absolutely stoked,” Caldwell said.<\/p>\n

“I knew I was very fit and wanted to show that on track. We have the luxury of coming off our domestic season in Australia and I knew I was race-ready.<\/p>\n

“To be on the Diamond League podium for the first time is the biggest bonus ever, it’s amazing.”<\/p>\n

Front-running Olympic silver medallist Hull, who’d set out her stall from the start following the nifty pacemaker, was eventually passed on the final back straight and faded to sixth (3:57.91) on the run-in.<\/p>\n

Hollingsworth, reinstated as Australian champion last month after originally being disqualified after tripping Hull in the national final, was disappointing, finishing ninth in 3:58.96 and even ending one place behind another Aussie Sarah Billings.<\/p>\n

Tenth-placed Linden Hall ensured there were five Australians all under four minutes in the top 10.<\/p>\n

\"Duplantis\"<\/p>\n

Armand Duplantis celebrated yet another pole vault win in Shanghai. (EPA PHOTO)<\/p>\n

Caldwell was joined as a podium placer by Matt Denny, second in the men’s discus with a 67.54m effort, and Kurtis Marschall, runner-up with a 5.80m leap in a poor-quality pole vault redeemed only by the great Armand Duplantis, who cleared 6.12m but failed in three shots at a new world record height of 6.32m.<\/p>\n

It’s now over two-and-a-half years since the astonishing Swede was defeated in any competition.<\/p>\n

After his domestic sprint domination, Australia’s fastest man Lachlan Kennedy was brought back to earth, as his 10.01sec 100 metres after a good start was still only enough to earn him fifth behind victorious South African Gift Leotlela, who clocked 9.97sec.<\/p>\n

\"Gift\"<\/p>\n

Gift Leotlela won the 100 metres to provide a bit of a reality check for his Australian rival. (EPA PHOTO)<\/p>\n

In the 800m on his Diamond League debut, Luke Boyes announced himself with a fine run, leading a star-studded field into the home straight before finishing fourth in a new pb 1:44.16, with Ireland’s Mark English winning in 1:43.85.<\/p>\n

Victorian Seth O’Donnell (VIC) also made a decent bow in the 3000m, his 7:29.49 for 11th making him only the third Australian in history to break the 7:30 barrier after Cameron Myers and Stewart McSweyn. Germany’s Mohamed Abdilaahi took the spoils in 7:25.77.<\/p>\n

Queensland’s world Under 20 champ Torrie Lewis found a loaded 200m too hot, finishing last in 23.25sec, with Jamaica’s \u200cShericka Jackson soaring \u200cpast Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo, \u2060a two-time Olympic 400m champion, to win in 22.07.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jess Hull’s eagerly awaited 1500 metres rematch with Claudia Hollingsworth has proved a damp squib, upstaged by an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[102435,250672,64,63,130095,89786,63003,325544,8913,44],"class_list":["post-675236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-abbey-caldwell","tag-armand-duplantis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-champion","tag-claudia-hollingsworth","tag-diamond-league","tag-epa-photo","tag-jess-hull","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}