She may be more than 12,000 kilometres from Albion Park, but Jessica Hull is feeling very at home at the World Athletics Championships.
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Hull has found herself a second home on Hayward Field in Oregon, US, the home base of this year's competition. The Illawarra talent competed at the track during the 2014 World Junior Championships and would later become a University of Oregon star.
On Tuesday afternoon (AEDT), the 25-year-old will step onto her "home" track in the championship's women's 1500-metre final. Joining Hull at the starting line is fellow Aussie Georgia Griffith, with the pair expected to be among the contenders in the women's 1500m at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Hull has been in red-hot form of late - including producing a sub four-minute run at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon - and is viewed as Australia's best chance at a podium finish.
For Hull, competing on Hayward Field feels "great" and "very calming".
"Just taking note of the people around here who watched me grow from that little freshman to being an NCAA champion, who is now here competing at the world championships is incredible," she said.
"Now I just need to recover as best as I can and give myself a real shot. That's the big difference this year - I have a shot. Previously, I was hanging on and now it's like, 'hey, I can be a player in this game'."
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
