Distance Duo Dance in Doha
Published Sat 06 May 2023
The gun has been fired on the international athletics season with the Doha Diamond League bringing together the world’s biggest names in track and field, including eight Australians led by a distance duo and a discus giant.
Translating their strong form on the Australian domestic circuit to the international scene, Jessica Hull (self-coached) and Abbey Caldwell (Gavin Burren) placed two Australians in the top-five of a slick Women’s 1500m field of 14 – finishing in fourth and fifth placings respectively.
Brimming with confidence after a record breaking Australian stint, Hull raced aggressively in her pet event before closing strongly to finish in 4:00.90, narrowly ahead of Caldwell who nailed her first 2023 World Athletics Championships qualifier of 4:01.15 – well inside the 4:03.50 standard.
With the race won by Kenyan double Olympic and World Champion Faith Kipyegon in 3:58.57, Hull spoke to the weight of the performance as an indication of the inroads the Australian women continue to carve:
“I raced some internationals this year in Australia but it’s definitely very different in the Diamond League. Perhaps when we race in Australia, you get given a lot of respect. People don’t really throw elbows or jostle you for a position. So to get over here and get amongst it with the Diamond League women, there’s definitely a lot of physicality out there and it’s a bit hard when you don’t know where everyone is at but it’s a great start for the season,” Hull said.
“Fourth place is a pretty cool place to start the year and it’s a good sign for what’s to come. I would have liked to protect my position a little more over the last 400 but this has provided me with some good learnings to truly relax and focus on what I’m doing moving forward.”
Speaking about edging out her Australian counterpart in the tightest of margins for the third time this season, Hull said:
“It’s different battling Abbey in the Diamond League. I felt like I was racing the race so I didn’t even realise it was her that I was ahead of. I saw her, I asked her if she got it [the qualifying standard] and then once I saw the board and saw she ran 4:01 and finished right behind me, I was so excited for her. We all knew it was just a matter of time before Abbey would nail that standard.”
While Caldwell served up a personal best by exactly three-seconds to qualify for the Budapest championships this August, and the 21-year-old plans to only strengthen her case for a maiden World Championships berth over the following months.
"I went into this race knowing it'd be a complete different experience than I've ever had; hard and fast from the start. I knew I was ready to run fast and go for that qualifying standard but I didn't know how I'd go executing it. It's certainly given me more confidence in my racing," Caldwell said.
"Jess is also such an influential nathlete for me and to have such a talented and uplifting Aussie to line up alongside internationally is a privelege. I'm learning so much from her and I know there's so much more too. I think she's well and truly helped me bring out the best in me I can on the track."
World Championships finalist Georgia Griffith (Nic Bideau) finished in 12th place after an interrupted preparation with an Achilles injury.
From Allora to Doha, Matthew Denny (Dale Stevenson) stamped his presence on the 2023 Diamond League circuit when throwing a seasons best of 64.42m to finish in fourth place of the Men’s Discus, edged out of a podium position in the fifth round by Sam Mattis (USA).
With the competition won by Slovenia’s Kristjan Ceh with a mark of 70.89m, Denny’s best effort came in the third round to propel himself into third place, before his United States rival put competition ahead of friendship when bettering the Australian by 27cm. The result adds three-centimetres to Denny’s seasons best from February’s Adelaide Invitational and stands as the second highest finish of his career on the Diamond League circuit.
With a ticket to the 2023 World Athletics Championships locked away after a dazzling domestic season, Michelle Jenneke (Gary Bourne) opened up her international campaign with a run of 13.00 (+1.1) to finish in seventh place of the Women’s 100m Hurdles.
In a star-studded field headed by reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Puerto Rico) who flexed her form when winning in a strong 12.48, Jenneke put world-class competition experience under her belt when running a clean race over the hurdles.
Delivering a career-best year in 2022, Nina Kennedy (Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick) made her long awaited return to competition in Doha after a stress fracture marred her pre-season preparations, clearing 4.45m on her first attempt for a seventh-place finish in the Women’s Pole Vault.
Jumping off a restricted run up of 12 steps, the height of 4.55m proved insurmountable for the global bronze medallist and Commonwealth champion who continues to build conservatively towards her Budapest campaign.
Matthew Ramsden (Nic Bideau) claimed a 12th place finish in a world-class Men’s 3000m race, battling with the hot early pace set by the leaders en route to Lamecha Girma (Ethiopia) storming to victory in 7:26.18, with Ramsden stopping the clock in 7:47.71. Stewart McSweyn (Nic Bideau) veered off the track within the first 800m after battling a hamstring complaint in the lead-in, with the experienced campaigner unable to complete the first of many races on his European schedule.
A full replay of the 2023 Doha Diamond League can be found HERE.
The next stop on the Diamond League calendar is in Rabat on May 28.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 6/5/2026
