Jessica Hull and Linden Hall have produced brilliant semi-final runs to ensure that Australia will be the only country with two representatives in the Olympic women’s 1500m final in Tokyo.
Hull, 24, was the first to make her mark on Wednesday evening, finishing fourth in the opening semi in a slick three minutes 58.81 seconds, breaking Hall’s national record in the process.
“My last 100 wasn’t pretty but I put myself in it for 1400 metres and I came away with the big Q (automatic qualifier) and I’m so stoked to be going through to the final,” the US-based Hull told the Seven Network.
Not to be outdone, her great domestic rival Hall ran bravely from the front in the second semi before crossing the line third in 4:01.37.
“I probably didn’t plan on taking the lead quite as early as I did but you’ve got to just adapt on the fly and it worked out,” said the 30-year-old Hall, who just missed out on a spot in the 1500m final five years ago on her Olympic debut in Rio.
“I was just trying to stay in that top five. My motto was ‘top five and stay alive’.
“I pulled that off so I’m pretty happy.”
Hull and Hall will be joined in the final by Dutch superstar Sifan Hassan, who is chasing an unprecedented 1500-5000-10,000m treble in Tokyo.
Hassan won the second semi in 4:00.23, but Kenyan Faith Kipyegon was fastest overall in 3:56.80.
The only other Australian women to have qualified for an Olympic 1500m final were Jenny Orr in 1972 and Marg Crowley in 1996.
AAP
