USA distance greats to challenge an all-star Australian 1500m line up at Maurie Plant Meet
Published Tue 07 Feb 2023
The fast and the fierce are set to light up the Women’s 1500m at the upcoming Maurie Plant Meet – Melbourne, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold level meet, with USA duo Olympic bronze medallist Emma Coburn and World Athletics Indoor Championships finalist Heather MacLean squaring up against an all-star Australian cast on Thursday, February 23 at Lakeside Stadium.
Joining fellow USA teammates Fred Kerley and Matthew Centrowitz Jnr, MacLean and Coburn will take on three of Australia’s fastest ever women over the distance, with national record holder Jessica Hull, Australian all-time number three Georgia Griffith and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Abbey Caldwell all set to toe the line.
Fresh off career-best results on the World Athletics Indoor Tour in Boston on Saturday, MacLean comes to Australia as the current world lead in the Mile having clocked 4:23.42, while Coburn crossed the line in 4:28.84 in the same race to place seventh in a tightly contested field.
Both Coburn and MacLean will launch their Australian campaign as part of Team USA’s 4x2km Mixed Relay team set to compete at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23, where they will size up both Caldwell and Hull in the relay race before flying south to Melbourne.
“I am so excited to be heading to Australia to participate in the World Cross Country Championship Relay in Bathurst and the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne,” said former world champion Coburn.
“Testing my fitness in a 1500m at the Maurie Plant Meet, going against some of the top 1500m runners in the world, will be a fun challenge! I’m looking forward to mixing it up and racing in Australia instead of racing the indoor track season in America. It should be a blast!”
MacLean echoed her teammate's excitement stating:
"This trip is about tons of firsts for me. It will be the first time to compete alongside my husband overseas, as we are newlyweds; It will be my first time in Australia. There is not a better way to have such iconic firsts than to do it at the Maurie Plant Meet. The only other first I hope to capture is the support of the Australian crowd. Who knows, I might even take a "walk about" while I am visiting."
With Hull, Griffith and Caldwell all cementing their spot in the field, the Women’s 1500m is shaping up to be one of the night’s most highly anticipated events, with head-to-head match ups suggesting that it will be anyone’s race.
MacLean is the fastest of the talented quintet, sporting a 3:58.76 personal best from last September but is only marginally quicker than seven-time Australian record holder Hull, who stormed down the home straight at the Tokyo Olympics in 3:58.81.
While Hull is the only one of the Australian trio to have raced both accomplished Americans, she’ll be looking for a valiant victory having won just one race out of three to MacLean, and suffered a defeat to Coburn in their only match up.
Griffith has raced MacLean twice and while it was her rival who had the upper hand on both occasions, her 4:30.27 win in the Mile at the Cooks Classic in New Zealand last week will give her a boost of confidence as she looks to become just the third Australian woman to run sub four minutes over three and three-quarter laps. Her trajectory in 2022 also sees her enter the Maurie Plant Meet with a lightning fast 4:00.16 best; more than three seconds quicker than Coburn’s 4:03.82 from 2020.
Caldwell has challenged Coburn just once at the USATF Distance Classic, with the rising star of Australian middle distance clocking a win and a lifetime best of 4:04.18 against Coburn’s 11th place in 4:09.47. The underdog of the experienced line up by time only, Caldwell will be one to watch after beating Hull to the finish line in the Australian trials for Bathurst.
The Maurie Plant Meet, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold level meet, is a part of the Chemist Warehouse Australian Summer of Athletics and is supported by the Victorian Government and World Athletics.
Tickets can be purchased here.
Emma Coburn (USA)
- Olympic bronze medallist – 3000m Steeplechase (Rio 2016)
- World champion - 3000m Steeplechase (London 2017)
- World championships silver medallist - 3000m Steeplechase (Doha 2019)
- 10 x National Champion
- 2 x NCAA champion (2011, 2013)
- NCAA Indoor Champion (2013)
- Personal bests of 2:01.10 (800m), 4:03.82 (1500m), 4:23.42 (Indoor Mile), 9:02.35 (3000m Steeplechase)
- DOB October 19, 1990
Heather MacLean (USA)
- World lead – indoor mile – 4:23.42
- World Athletics Indoor Championships finalist – 1500m, 7th (Belgrade 2022)
- NACAC Champion – 1500m (Bahamas 2022)
- National Indoor Champion – 1500m (2022)
- Personal bests of 1:59.72 (800m), 3:58.76 (1500m), 4:23.42 (Indoor Mile)
- DOB August 21, 1995
By David Smith and Sascha Ryner for Athletics Australia
Posted:7/2/2022
