When Jessica Hull fell just 60 meters away from the 1500m finish line after appearing to be jostled by Claudia Hollingsworth, Hull’s father didn’t hide his frustration. He said, “Jess was robbed.” Meanwhile, Hollingsworth, who was initially disqualified for the jostle, was reinstated after a two-hour-long review of the incident. But while it’s all settled on paper, it looks like Hull might not be completely convinced with how things played out.

The fall in the 1500m left Jessica Hull sore, and she withdrew from the subsequent 800m race, but by Sunday, she was back in the 5000m and won the national title in 15:13.21. However, when the topic of 1500m DQ came up, she made her words heard.

“If you get beat fair and square, you can live with that, but when it gets taken out of your hands, it’s a bit hard to sort of shut the door on it and just leave it,” Hull expressed her disappointment.

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She continued, “You know, I think a lot of us would acknowledge it’s a DQ anywhere else in the world, but it isn’t here, and you’ve just got to live with that, and it is what it is,” she said, referring to the controversial DQ reversal.

However, Hull stated there’s still no bad blood between her and Hollingsworth despite the DQ drama. “You saw us put it to bed about 10 seconds post the finish line,” she said, confirming that Hollingsworth hugged her and apologized to her right after.

But speaking of apologies, Hull’s father and coach, Simon, issued one to the Australian federation, too. He was furious as he protested against Hull being jostled in the 1500m race. “We’re not copping that,” he yelled from the stands, but now he feels he stretched it too far.

“I could have been a lot better. I could have been a lot calmer,” he said as reported by Wide World of Sports.

Interestingly, a frame-by-frame review of the 1500m fall, as per Nine, showed Claudia Hollingsworth’s knee making contact with Hull, causing her to lose balance and fall hard. Yet, no particular reason was given for the DQ reversal, but Hull clarified,

“Initially, the DQ was based on jostling, which is the hand touch. A couple of taps in the back first was the original DQ and they overturned that because it wasn’t enough to bring me down. But there was nothing in the original protest about the legs, and you don’t get a second go at that.”

The protest was lodged by Hull’s father. Three years ago, Jessica Hull made a bold move that changed everything. The Australian runner returned home to train under her dad again. Many wouldn’t mix family and professional life, but for Hull, just a month earlier, she anchored Australia’s mixed relay team to gold at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, her first-ever world title. Now, the faith in their partnership is stronger than ever.

In fact, after Jessica Hull tripped in the 1500m, she grabbed her dad for a quick Sunday morning 20-minute jog. That greenlit her for the 5000m race ahead. Previously, few bought into her bold 800m-1500m-5000m triple chase that weekend. What kicked off as an off-season joke with coach Simon turned real fast, just a week in.

“I asked Dad if he was serious, and he was like, ‘Yeah, if you want to do it, let’s try it, it’s the year to do those kinds of things.’”

Hull, however, made it clear there was no lasting tension between the athletes involved:
“It’s not to any fault of another athlete, or it’s racing. It happens. It’s not their fault, but you’ve got to live with it, and yeah, we’ll all be better from it, and you learn a lot as you go” she said.

“She [Hollingsworth] earned it, and you know you move on.” For Hull, the focus quickly shifted to recovery, but her body and mind were still carrying the impact of the fall during the 5000m race.

Jessica Hull finds strength in young fans after controversial fall

After the controversy of the 1500m final, Jessica could’ve easily stepped away from the rest of the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney. But that changed the moment she spotted the next generation of talent watching her from the stands.

“From the moment I was in the call room, there were kids waiting to see if I was going to go and race, and that just makes you realize it’s so much bigger than you,” she said. “It’s everything for them… I’m not a 5k runner anymore, so when you get into those moments, I was like, there are so many kids here that just care and keep digging in…”

Despite the emotion, Hull still had to reset quickly and prepare for a very different kind of race just hours later. In the women’s 5000m final, she returned to the track and delivered a strong performance to win the national title in 15:13.21. She stayed controlled through most of the race before lifting hard in the final stages, pulling away from the field in the last lap and edging Linden Hall, who finished close behind in 15:15.33.

But even in that race, she was experiencing the aftereffects of her fall. “It scared me a bit. There were some moments in that pack that were a bit dicey, and I was putting my hands out when I was going to make a move,” she said. “I wanted everyone to know where I was going. I didn’t want anyone to just clip me.”

Even with those concerns, Jessica Hull managed to hold her nerve in the closing stages, timing her final surge perfectly to secure the title and close out a difficult but emotional day on a high note.