Despite gashing her leg in the heats, the 28-year-old powered into the final in Tokyo with a new national record
Wearing an adhesive bandage covering a gash on her leg, Jess Hull became the first Australian woman to qualify for a world championship 800m final after powering through her semi-final in Tokyo and setting a new national record.
Her time on Friday was only good enough for third place, but given the speed of the race she progressed into Sunday’s final as one of the two fastest qualifiers. And it lowered the national mark set only last month by her team-mate Claudia Hollingsworth, who finished fourth in her semi.
Hull said she felt she had been given a “second chance” after her fall and reinstatement in the heat on Thursday, but she was pleased with her speed given she has already run three rounds of the 1500m. “To come out tonight and run fast and run a PB and earn my place in the final, I’m really excited,” she said.
Hull’s time of 1:57.15 broke Hollingsworth’s mark set just last month by half a second, and the 28-year-old said she knew she had to run fast when she saw the draws. “I figured the little Qs [fastest non-automatic qualifiers] were coming out of my semi just based on the depth, so I was like, ‘OK, just race the race’ and I got the time that finally I’ve been searching for.”
