There were moments in autumn when Jessica Hull thought she might not race again this year.
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The world plunged into lockdown as COVID-19 advanced from nation to nation and the Tokyo Olympics postponed, the outlook was bleak.
Hull herself had raced home, the US-based athlete escaping a rapidly deteriorating situation to return to the Illawarra.
Despite the separation from her squad, the middle-distance runner continued to plug away on her own.
The solo runs piled up. Sessions completed on the grass track at Myimbarr, longer efforts at Kembla Joggers' cross country course, Sunday long runs through Budderoo National Park.
While Hull concedes her motivation fluctuated at times throughout the first half of 2020, the 24-year-old said her youth helped her maintain a sense of perspective throughout the coronavirus lockdown.
"I think I was lucky because I am younger," Hull said. "I was motivated by my performance at the World Championships last year and had built some momentum in the indoor season and the early Australian domestic season. Pulling from them was the key to staying motivated.
"I decided we didn't know when we were going to race, so I was just going to lock in for the training. I started to put the pieces together and I knew if I got an opportunity, it was going to pay off."
Eventually a glimmer of hope emerged in the form of a rejigged Diamond League season in Europe.
Suddenly the races Hull had been training for materialised. She would have a chance to test her lockdown training regime against the world's best.
Prior to departing for Europe, the Albion Park resident completed a time-trial at Bankstown. Contesting a 3000 metres race in driving rain, she was just three seconds outside Benita Willis' Australian record.
Hull knew she was arriving in Monaco in great shape.
"Once you get a couple of races under your belt, you come off that track and you know you've run fast.
"That's where you get your confidence. Once you get to that level of fitness, you're able to relax and take it into a race when you're trying to run faster."
It didn't take long for Hull to make a statement in Europe, shattering Willis' 5000m Australian record.
A national record in the 1500m followed four weeks later before she capped a remarkable two months by breaking Willis' mark in the 3000m event. Her place in the team for the Tokyo Olympics was also confirmed while she was abroad.
The three outdoor records add to the 1500m indoor record Hull set on Australia Day weekend in the States in January.
The performances have earned the rising star the 2020 Illawarra Mercury Sportsperson of the Year award.
Hull joins the likes of Ali Day, Emma McKeon and Kezie Apps in taking out the honour, while 2019 winner Alex Volkanovski was named this year's People's Choice recipient.
While Hull travelled abroad with the goal of breaking the Australian 1500m outdoor record, she said her success throughout the period came as a surprise.
"I was chasing the 1500m record," Hull said. "That was definitely my target going over to Europe.
"I just didn't know what races I was going to get when I was over there. I knew I had the 5000m in Monaco, I knew I was in shape to run around Benita's national record, but I've also never done a 5km that fast.
"If I had broken 15 minutes and run a PB, it would've been a good day, so I wasn't going out there to try and break the record.
"The 3km popped up late in the game, they changed the 1500m in Doha to a 3km, so I thought I might be able to do a 3km and I just rolled along with it."
Hull's performances this year are the latest in a steady trajectory towards the elite ranks of women's middle-distance running.
She emerged as a future star as a teenager, winning state and national medals at Albion Park Little Athletics and Kembla Joggers.
That success led to a scholarship at US college powerhouse the University of Oregon, where she won multiple NCAA titles.
Having graduated with a human physiology degree, Hull earned a professional contract with the famed Nike Oregon Project.
While the squad rebranded after Alberto Salazar's doping ban, she remains with the company, coached by Pete Julian.
The American is renowned for producing World Championships and Olympic Games medalists, including men's 800m world champion Donavan Brazier and 2019 bronze medalist Konstanze Klosterhalfen.
Hull impressed in her first open national team, narrowly missing the final in the 1500m at last year's World Championships in Doha.
While she left that meet pleased to record a personal best time, the emerging talent declared she will carry a different mindset into the Tokyo Olympics.
"Doha I knew I was in shape, but it was also my first team, I was there for the experience. Going into Tokyo, it's my first Olympics, but the expectations on myself are a bit higher.
"It's an Olympics and a new stage, it's going to be different to what I've ever experienced, but I'll be going there to get a job done and hopefully be pretty happy to be an Olympian afterwards."
At just 24, Hull is considered a youngster in middle-distance running, many of the sport's elite only reaching their peak in their late 20s and early 30s.
That has the Australian primed for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
But while she knows her best is still a few years away, Hull's expectations for Tokyo remain high.
She has qualified for the 1500m and 5000m events, however the schedule dictates she cannot run in both.
The shorter distance was originally her pet event, but she has shown glimpses of her talent over the longer contest. At this stage, Hull continues to train for both, a decision not required until closer to the Games.
No matter the event she chooses, anything less than a spot in the final will be considered a disappointment for Hull. Once there, history shows tactics will play a key role in determining the ultimate finishing order when medals are on the line.
"Whichever event, the 1500m or 5000m, the goal is to be a finalist. That would've been the goal this year if Tokyo went ahead.
"The extra time does make you think, 'can I be a top eight finisher now? Or top 10?' All those things are going through my mind.
"It's important to just focus on my training now. Everything I do is to get myself on the start line in the final. Then, whatever my coach says I'm ready to do, is what going into the final I'll be doing everything I can to get to."
Hull's time back in the Illawarra is likely to come to an end next month, the runner planning to return to America to rejoin her squad.
With her training partners by her side to push her along, she hopes to put the finishing touches on a lengthy path to Tokyo.
"I'll have to be careful in America, but for me to be at my best in Tokyo, I need to train with my squad in the same place."
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Cameron Mee
Sports reporter at the Canberra Times
Sports reporter at the Canberra Times
