Less than 24 hours ago, Aussie Jess Hull took a nasty fall, which appeared to have robbed her of her chance to line up in the 800m world championships semi-final.
The Aussie stumbled early in the seventh heat of the 800m on Thursday when a fellow competitor appeared to accidentally clip her ankle while the field was in a tight bunch around the first lap.
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Hull picked herself up to finish the race but thought her campaign was over.
However, after a protest was lodged by Australian Athletics and upheld, Hull was given the green light to line up in the semi on Friday night and didn’t she make the most of it.
With a gash in her leg from the heat fall and a 1500m bronze already under her belt from earlier in the week, Hull found another gear in Tokyo, with a blistering final lap to grab third in a gut-busting run in 1:57.15.
As she looked at the time she began jumping up and down in excitement as she realised she broke the Australian 800m record.
She also made even more history, by becoming the first Australian woman to make a world championship final in both the 1,500m and 800m.
Speaking after the race, the 28-year-old said she knew she had a run like that in her.
“I’ve known that time was in there since about April when I ran 1:58 in Jamaica and we hadn’t done a tonne of 800 specific work,” Hull said.
“I kind of then thought I could really get something like that out there.
“This championship has been quite dramatic by my own standards (with the fall) so I just put my head down and went to work tonight, and I’ve got 48 hours to recover for the final.”
Jess Hull makes most of protest drama
Hull cut a dejected figure on Thursday after feeling she had been robbed of a chance to give the 800m event a real crack after she fell forward after being tripped up in the opening 100m of her heat.
“There was a bit of nudging behind her and unfortunately Jess Hull … that’s tragic news,” Bruce McAvaney said in commentary on SBS at the time.
“It happened so fast. She was just about to get to second, and she’s unfortunately had her heel clipped from behind her.”
“It was a messy race right from the start,” Tamsyn Manou added.
“She might be able to appeal that if they re-look at the footage of what happened.”
After getting herself up and soldiering on to finish, Hull said she wanted to show the world she was in PB shape.
“I was taken from behind,” Hull told Channel 9.
“It’s 800m racing but there’s nothing I could have done there.
“I’m sure they’ll look at it and we’ll see, but it was a rude introduction to international 800m running.
“That’s hard to take because I know I’m in really great shape and I was at the front 200m in, which is not really what we anticipated. But I was strong and I was ready for it.
“I hope I get another chance. I’m in PB shape.
“My point of view is there’s nothing I could have done. I got up and I finished the race, I know that’s a requirement.”
Crossing the line proved pivotal, as Australian Athletics lodged a protest and were successful, allowing Hull to progress through to the semi-finals.
And she showed she was in PB shape on Friday with a run that sent the athletics world into a frenzy.
“Unreal,” one fan wrote on X as the record breaking moment hit the internet.
“Brilliant from Jess Hull,” another said.
While a third chimed in: “What a run”.
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