Jessica Hull upbeat after finishing fifth at World Athletics Road Running Championships

In a hotly contest field, the Albion Park flyer was among the front-running group from the outset in the women's road mile event early Monday morning (AEDT). Hull eventually just fell short of being in medals contention, finishing fifth in a time of 4:32.45.

Ethopian Diribe Welteji secured gold in a world record time of 4:20.98 from fellow Ethopian Freweyni Hailu, while Kenyan great Faith Kipyegon took the bronze.

It was Hull's fourth successive top-10 effort at a major global competition in 2023.

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Hull said that she felt "awesome" during Monday's race, but admitted that she struggled to keep up with the top runners' pace.

"It's the same women that I've been racing on the track all year but it's such a different race on the roads. It was really fun to go in with no expectations and just run hard and make decisions as I went," Hull told the Athletics Australia website post-race.

"It felt great out there today but I could tell the pace was a little too fast for me in the first stretch so I had to disconnect from the pack a bit and be a bit more patient.

"With 600 metres to go, I was going to try and pick up one or two spots because I felt like I was closing in on the girls, but they kept it fast in their battle for gold."

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It was Hull's third major championship this year, having made the women's 1500m final at August's World Athletics Championships and being part of Australia's mixed relay team that secure bronze at February's World Athletics Cross Country Championships.

The 26-year-old also finished eighth in the 1500m final of the Diamond League last month.

"One of my big goals was to be 'good all year', so I think being part of all four of those major races shows that I was able to do that," Hull said.

"I'm really, really proud of my consistency this year and being able to run well in all four of those is a bonus. That made it a lot of fun all the way along."

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