Heroic Hull has good reason to feel at home in Monaco

Olympic heroes Jessica Hull – a New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder – and Peter Bol shattered national records under the lights of Stade Louis II, as teenage phenom Gout Gout stole the show with a blazing sprint victory putting the future and present of Australian athletics on full display at the Monaco Diamond League.

Twelve months to the day after rewriting the world record books in Monaco over 2000m, Hull once again proved Monaco brings out her best, finishing third in the Women’s 1000m in 2:30.96, obliterating the previous Australian record by two seconds.

“Monaco has been good to me and I hope to keep coming back in the future,” Hull said. “That was a very good race tonight and they ran very fast to win. It’s an aggressive race and there’s not much time to make up time in the last 200m, so I think it’s important to attack it and be quite aggressive in your approach to it all.

“I certainly was tonight but that last 80m was probably the longest 80m I’ve had in a very long time and I got everything I was hoping to out of it.”

In 2024, Hull led a historic 2000m race, breaking the world record in 5:19.70, a performance that became a defining moment of her career and buoyed her to silver in Paris just months later. This year, it was Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir who took the win in 2:29.77, ahead of American Addison Wiley (2:30.71, with Hull’s aggressive attempt at a sub 2:30 time highlighting her grit.

Also flying the flag in the Women’s 1000m was Sarah Billings (VIC) who took full advantage of the fast field to clock a personal best of 2:33.17, finishing seventh overall. In one of the fastest 800m races in Diamond League history, Bol (WA ) delivered the run of his life, placing fourth in 1:42.55, smashing his own Australian record by more than one second.

The race marks an extraordinary leap for Bol, who only dipped under the 1:44 barrier for the first time in April this year at the Australian Athletics Championships. The race was won by Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi in a meet record and world leading time of 1:41.44, with the top-five all clocking sub-1:43 times.

“I was so nervous going into this one with such a fast field. I was like, ‘I’m the slowest here!’ The pacemaker was almost as fast as I am, but I had to back myself. I had an incredible season, incredible overseas campaign. The time I was aiming for was 1:42.5 and I got 1:42.55 so I can’t ask for more than that,” Bol said.

“I’m resilient, I’ve always been. I’ve overcome a lot over the last few years, they were pretty bad for me, but I’m back and I’m better. An Australian record, I can’t be any happier.”

Bol’s performance now ranks him within the top 30 on the all-time global list of 800m performers. Closing out the meet, Kurtis Marschall (WA) once again delivered on the international stage, clearing 5.92m to claim third place in the Men’s Pole Vault.

The Olympic finalist and world championships medallist was flawless through 5.82m before needing two attempts at 5.92m. He then raised the bar to the 6.00m benchmark, coming close on all three attempts. The competition was won by world record holder Mondo Duplantis, who set a meet record of 6.05m.

“I’m just biding my time,” Marschall said. “I’m being patient, and I’m doing everything right, trying to get it done. I had really good attempts at 6m. I feel like it’s inevitable, it’s just a matter of time.”

Making a statement in a non-Diamond League event at the meet, global sensation Gout Gout (QLD) scorched to another win, running 20.10 (-1.9) in the Men’s Under-23 race to claim victory and continue his meteoric rise on the international stage.

Taking advantage of the school holidays, the 17-year-old stormed home against a world-class junior field including Olympic silver medallist Busang Collen Kepinatshipi (20.28), narrowly missing his record with strong and stubborn headwinds holding him back.

“This is obviously an Under-23 race, so it’s about getting my feet out there. I’m feeling very excited, just racing everyone out on the big league. Noah Lyles, Tebogo, everyone is out there. It’s really fun for sure and I’m love going out there and seeing what I can do.”

The Diamond League next travels to London on July 19 and can be watched live and free by Australian audiences on the Wanda Diamond League YouTube channel.

Sascha Ryner