Hull Tunes Up For Worlds With 4:19.89 Full Mile; Duplantis Breaks Outdoor PV WR

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

A one-race event Saturday at Portland's Jesuit High provided a spotlight and a racing opportunity for Union Athletics Club runner Jessica Hull.

Paced by training partners Sinclaire Johnson and Konstanze Klosterhalfen, Hull stayed on 4:20 pace for the full mile and dipped under with 4:19.89, becoming the 28th female athlete to eclipse the barrier outdoors. She came through 1,500 meters at 4:01.93.

The time is an Australian record and it's Hull's seventh national record, securing the 1,500, mile and 3,000 both indoors and outdoors, along with the outdoor 5,000 mark. 

Hull's time is the fastest ever on U.S. soil outdoors, eclipsing the 1998 performance of Svetlana Masterkova of Russia, who ran 4:20.39 in New York. Six female athletes have run faster indoors at U.S. venues. 

In two weeks, Hull, Johnson and Klosterhalfen, who is German, will likely go head to head wearing three different uniforms at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene. 

- Mondo Duplantis gave his adopted home country of Sweden a show June 30 at the BAUHAUS-galan, the Diamond League tour stop in Stockholm. Duplantis cleared 6.16m (20-2.50) on his second attempt, which is an outdoor world record and four centimeters shy of his indoor record. 

It's Duplantis' second "world best" outdoors and he has broken the world record indoors four times. 

U.S. champion Chris Nilsen was second with 5.93m (19-5.50).

Chase Ealey followed up her victory at the USATF Outdoor Championships by winning the Stockholm meeting with another big mark, this time 20.48m (67-2.25). 

Alison Dos Santos from Brazil ran a world-leading 46.60 to win the men's 400-meter hurdles. 

South Sudanese runner Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu, who competes internationally for the Athlete Refugee Team, won the men's 3,000 meters in 7:29.48, edging out Kenya's Jacob Kiplimo. 

- In Atlanta, at the Stars and Stripes Classic, world record holder Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa won the men's 400 meters in 44.58 seconds. That's his fastest race in more than a year. 

- UCLA and USC announced the schools are leaaving the Pac-12 Conference in 2024, primarily for reason related to football and television contracts. But every other sport is affected as well, and a Pac-12 without the USC and UCLA track and field programs is a significant change. 

As it stands, the final Pac-12 Conference Outdoor Championships with the Los Angeles schools appears to be next spring's meet in Corvallis, Ore., where Oregon State is about to undergo a major facility upgrade ahead of the meet. 

- The USATF Youth Championships were held in New York City the past few days and one of the best performances of the meet came from Cai Culpepper of Tampa XPress Track Club, who smashed the 400 meters meet record with 54.95 in the girls 11-12 final.