Jessica Hull

In the 1,500 meters, Hull took first place at the 2015 Australian Junior Championship. She ran the 3,000 meters in 9:08.85 to place seventh at the 2014 World Junior Athletics Championships. Hull won the U-17 1500 m race at the 2012 Australian Athletics Championships in 4:28.11. In 2018, Hull won the 1500-meter NCAA (college) championship. She was a student-athlete who graduated from the University of Oregon in 2019 and was a four-time NCAA Division 1 champion. She received seven All-American awards during her time there.

Only three weeks after graduating from Stanford in June 2019, she shattered her 1500m PB, racing 4:02.62 to become the fourth fastest in Australian history and enter the Doha World Championships and the Tokyo Olympics. She competed in Europe a few times, including a magnificent 15:00.32 5000m in Berlin, which was the third fastest in Australian history and the quickest by an Australian in 13 years. At the IAAF World Championships’ Doha heat, she made her senior international debut.  She cruised through the 1500-meter preliminary round and into the semifinal, missing the final by just one position and 0.28 seconds. Her semi-final time of 4:01.80 was a new personal best and the fastest time ever for a semifinal at an Olympic or world competition.

Her 2020 season saw her establish herself as a diverse performer on the international scene. Over the course of a month, Jessica broke the 1500-meter (4:00.42), 3000-meter (8:36.03), and 5000-meter (14:43.80) national records and competed against the best in the world. Jessica Hull, who was chosen for the 5000-meter race at the Tokyo Olympics in early 2020, she had to wait over a year for her coveted 1500-meter spot in June 2021. She eliminated the 5000m from her schedule since she was unable to compete in both races. She began stepping into her 2021 competition preparation in May before bursting through with a timing of 4:00.73 in July.

She qualified for the Olympics after finishing second in her heat. She advanced to the final after finishing fourth in a speedy semi-final and smashed the national record with a best performance of 3:58.81. Victorian Linden Hall competed alongside Jessica in the final. Only two Australians had ever made the women’s 1500m final before the Games. However, Tokyo 2020 saw two women competing in the same 1500 event, which was a huge thing for the country. In the final, Jessica came in 11th with a timing of 4:02.63.

Pete Julian is her current coach. Jessica went professional in June 2019 and inked a contract with Nike while still having one year of eligibility left. American Pete Julian, a former assistant coach with the Nike Oregon Project, is the Nike Union Athletics Club’s track and field coach. Julian used to compete for the United States as a professional distance runner. Julian won a bronze medal in the 10,000m for Adidas at the 1999 Pan American Games. He represented the United States at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics.

Jessica Hull was born in Albion Park, New South Wales, Australia, on October 22, 1996. She got into sports at an early age and began running cross country in school. Her father, Simon, who was formerly a top middle-distance runner at the national level, closely supervised his daughter’s growth and laid a solid foundation for her. Following graduation from high school, she pursued a Human Physiology major at Oregon University and pursued minors in Psychology and Sports Business. She is married to Daniel Jolliffe, who is also an athlete.