Jessica Hull makes athletics history as Faith Kipyegon obliterates world record

Jessica Hull has recorded the eighth-fastest time ever in the women's mile at the Monaco Diamond League athletics meet, as Kenyan sensation Faith Kipyegon smashed the world record with an extraordinary run. Kipyegon broke her third world record of the year with a time of four minutes 07.64 seconds in the mile, after already bettering records in the 1500m and 5000m this season.

It marked the first time in history that a woman has gone under four minutes and 10 seconds in the event. Aussie runner Hull took full advantage of the lightning-quick pace, finishing fifth in 4:15.34 and taking almost three seconds off the Australian and Oceania records.

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Hull rocketed into eighth place on the all-time list in the women's mile, continuing her standout form less than a month out from the world athletics championships. Fellow Australian Abbey Caldwell finished ninth with a time of 4:20.51, which counts as a 1500m qualifier for next year's Olympic Games in Paris.

"That's the first time I haven't looked at a clock at all in a race," Hull said afterwards. "I thought I need to treat this like a race in Budapest (at the upcoming world titles), and I'm not going to be looking at the clock in Budapest, I'm going to be focusing on my position. So I was just racing in the pack that I was in and came home really strong."

The 29-year-old Kipyegon, a two-time Olympic 1500m gold medallist and twice world champion, obliterated the previous best time of 4:12.33 - set by Ethiopian-born Dutch runner Sifan Hassan in 2019. The Kenyan took the lead with two laps to run and made no mistake in perfect running conditions.

"I came for that, I wanted to chase the world record," she said. "It was amazing. And just before the world championships."

In remarkable scenes that left the athletics world stunned, Ciara Mageean broke the Irish record in 4:14.58, Laura Muir eclipsed the British mark in 4:15.24, while Nikki Hiltz's time of 4:16.35 broke the American record.

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Meanwhile, Aussie high-jumper Nicola Olyslagers continued her outstanding buildup to the world championships by claiming victory with a last-chance clearance at 1.99m. "I'm just going to trust the process," said the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist.

"I want to do a PB in Budapest, I want to see something I've never done before happen. If I can come out with a PB, I know a podium is there."

After she was assured of victory, Olyslagers had another crack at what would have been a new Australian mark of 2.03m. "The second attempt I was happy with and then the third attempt I was a bit tired with, so that was the whole comp," she said.

"I thought even when I'm tired and fatigued and nothing is going alright, that's okay. You can still turn it around. It was a good learning curve."

Reigning world champion Eleanor Patterson finished an encouraging fourth with a best of 1.96m in just her second event back after a long injury layoff. Australia's other podium finisher in Monaco was two-time Commonwealth Games champ Kurtis Marschall, who finished third in the pole vault with a best clearance of 5.82m, while Brooke Buschkuehl (6.73m) was sixth in the long jump.

Jamaica's world champion Shericka Jackson won the women's 200m, but Swedish pole vaulting king Mondo Duplantis suffered a rare defeat. Duplantis, who set a new world record of 6.22m in France in February, clipped the bar three times at 5.92m, with American Christopher Nilsen already clear at that height for victory. It marked the first defeat for the US-born Swede since Brussels in September last year.

with agencies

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