Linden Hall

BIOGRAPHY

In 2021 Linden Hall became the first Australian woman in history to break four-minutes in the 1500m when running 3:59.67 to reclaim her national record and shatter the elusive four-minute barrier. But that achievement was just one of many in 2021 for Hall who bettered records and barriers in a barnstorming year. During the year she broke three national records, 1000m, 1500m and mile, achieved the qualifying standard for the 800m along with the 1500m for the Tokyo Olympics, finished on the podium in three Diamond League meets and placed sixth in the Olympic 1500m final, the second highest ever by an Australian woman and the best for 25 years. 

Selected on three Australian teams in 2022, made it an even bigger year for Linden with PBs in the mile - indoors and outdoors. In March 2022 she competed in her first World Indoor Championships, placing sixth in the 1500m final in 4:06.34. Her time was the fastest ever by an Aussie at the championships and her place equal best ever finish. At the World Championships in Eugene, Linden ran well in the heats, but in the semi-final placed a non-qualifying 9th, missing the final. Two weeks later she was 4th in the 1500m at the Commonwealth Games.

There was no stopping her in 2023, with selection in her 9th Australian team - for the Budapest World Championships. On the clock she set PBs over 1000m, 1500m, mile and 3000m and broke the National 1500m record with an extraordinary time of 3:57.27.

Selected for her 10th appearance in the green and gold, Linden competed in the 1500m heats at the 2024 World Indoor Championships. In April she was third in the National title, ahead of a European campaign which included a terrific run of 3:58.96 in June.

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Linden Hall started athletics while in primary school. “In Grade six I made a Victorian cross country team and after placing 11th at my first national cross country I joined Athletics Essendon and found a coach. Slowly other sports such as swimming and netball were given away to make room for athletics.”
During her teenage years she was regularly on the podium at the national junior championships. At 15 she ran times of 4:27 (1500m) and 9:42 (3000m), but made only slight progression over the next few years. In 2011 she headed to Florida State college in America. During her college career she made three NCAA 1500m finals, winning bronze in 2014. She departed in 2015 with a 1500m PB of 4:15. Shortly after she graduated, in Europe in 2015 she ran a five seconds 1500m PB 4:10.41.

After a modest 2016 domestic season, the breakthrough came in May 2016 running 4:04.47 in Stanford and four weeks later 4:01.78. She was now the third fastest in Australian history and insight of the national record held by one of her former coaches Sarah Jamieson. She made the semi-finals at the Rio Olympics and the next year (2017) ran in the heats at the London World Championships.

She won the 2018 national title and at the Commonwealth Games placed fourth in the 1500m missing a medal by just 0.23 seconds. She headed overseas to compete and in May and July she claimed the national records in the 1500m (4:00.86 in Prefontaine) and mile (4:21.40 in London). She didn’t run domestically in 2019 with a number of injuries - two torn calf muscles/tendon, torn quad muscle and tendonitis in the knee/quads tendon. She returned to competition in mid-2019 with two 4:04 1500m runs in London and Zurich.

In 2019, Hall represented Australia at the World Championships where she placed 10th in the semi-final of the 1500m, before dabbling in a number of distances ranging from 800m-5000m throughout 2020.

2021 has seen Hall reclaim her national record from Jessica Hull and become the first woman in Australian history to break 4:00 for the distance, running a stunning 3:59.67 at a relatively low key meet in Box Hill. Just weeks earlier, Hall had qualified for the Olympic Games in the event after running 4:02.02 in Canberra, but she would proceed to also qualify for the 800m when running 1:59.22 at the Queensland Track Classic.
Hall won the 1500m national title to secure her ticket to Tokyo, opting out of running the 800m despite qualifying with the sole focus of taking her 1500m campaign as deep into the championships as possible. 

Interesting fact: Her grandfather’s cousin is Ken Hall, an Australian top-15 miler…..Who do you look up to as an athlete: Sarah Jamieson was Australia’s top 1500m runner when I was a junior and consequently someone I followed closely and looked up to a great deal. I’ve been lucky enough to have Sarah as part of my support team for quite a few years - an amazing mentor…..Advice to your younger self: Enjoy the friends you make and the places you get to explore through athletics

@  22 June 2024 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au