Claudia Hollingsworth has shattered the Australian 800m record, clocking 1min 57.67sec at the Silesia Diamond League meet in Chorzów, Poland. The 20-year-old Victorian finished fifth in a race won by Britain's Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson, but her time eclipsed Catriona Bisset's previous national mark of 1min 57.78sec.
Fellow Australian Abbey Caldwell also ran faster than the old record, crossing the line in 1min 57.70sec. Both athletes have been pre-selected for the world athletics championships in Tokyo next month. 'To share it with Abbey and Catriona was so special,' Hollingsworth said. 'I'm trying to be more aggressive and try different ways of racing leading into Tokyo.'
In other Australian performances, high jumper Nicola Olyslagers cleared 1.97m to finish second behind Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh (2m). Pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall tied for third with a 5.90m jump, behind Sweden's Armand Duplantis (6.10m).
Paris Olympics 1500m silver medallist Jessica Hull acted as pacemaker for Kenya's Faith Kipyegon in the 3000m. Kipyegon won in 8min 7.04sec, the second-fastest time in history, just short of Wang Junxia's 1993 world record of 8min 6.11sec. Australia's Rose Davies finished fourth in 8min 36.53sec.
In other events, Linden Hall placed sixth in the women's 1500m, while Cam Myers and Olli Hoare finished sixth and eighth respectively in the men's 1500m.
