‘It’s bigger than just coach and athlete’: Jess Hull’s family ties bind an Olympic dream
When Jessica Hull races, she knows exactly when to make her move.And in 2023, Hull made a move that would become career-defining: returning to Australia to be coached by her dad.Now, she is one of the world’s fastest middle-distance runners.It was a full-circle moment for the 29-year-old.Simon Hull first coached his daughter in her early teens, the difference now being that they write the training together.
“He’s like, ‘you’re driving this, and I’m supporting it in every way I can.But these are your goals, these are your dreams,’” Hull says.In what has been a busy start to 2026, Hull last week took silver in the prestigious Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games.In January, she won her first gold medal at the world athletics cross-country championships in Florida, where she anchored Australia’s mixed relay team.She feels that the team success could be a precursor to individual success.
“I am really proud of it,” Hull says.“I think you have to crack in somewhere, but I definitely want one individually.You’ve got to make things a habit, and winning gold is definitely a nice habit to have.”Since 2023, Hull has won Olympic silver in the 1500m and three world championships bronze medals, along with this year’s results.She broke the world record in the 2000m (5:19.
70) at Monaco Diamond League (she will attempt to break the indoor 2000m this month too).She has run a whopping eight national records, including her breakthrough 1500m (3:50.83) at Paris Diamond League in 2024 and the 800m record (1:57.15) in the Tokyo world championships last year (despite the fact she is new to the 800m).This run of form coincides with Hull’s return home.
Hull describes her dad, a former national-level middle-distance runner, as “extremely positive”, “encouraging” and “very Australian”.She recalls him struggling to order a coffee in Italian while overseas competing.“The staff in the coffee shop look at him like, ‘not this man again! We have no idea what he’s saying!’” Hull says.They never disagree.Their connection is so intuitive, it borders on mind reading – sometimes Hull will imagine a workout she wants to do, and her dad will text her the exact session.
She can almost always pick his voice out of a crowd while she is racing.“It’s bigger than just coach and athlete,” she says.“We probably know each other better than anyone else in the world.”The Hulls have steadily been professionalising their set up in Newcastle.Regular physio treatment and massage are a fixture, as well as altitude training and inviting male athletes in their early-20s to train fast with.
When Hull is preparing for a major championship, she brings her pacers abroad – a transformational experience for young athletes with their own ambitions.Hull’s husband, Daniel Jolliffe, has also been on the circuit full-time for the past 12 months.“You need your support person around you,” she says.“And I think now he embraces it – he’s on the bike helping with pacing or biking next to me on an easy run.”Having her inner circle close has helped Hull deal with the steep increase in public expectation, which soared when she ran her personal best in the 1500m and her 2000m world record right before Paris 2024.
It got even noisier when she became the first Australian woman in history to win a 1500m Olympic medal.“You’ve obviously got a little bit more of a spotlight, so if you fail it feels really bright, but it also makes you a better athlete, because you’re exploring what’s possible,” she says.While the limelight has brought with it new sponsorships and partnership opportunities, Hull has noticed her competitors now expect her to set the tone in a race.This newly earned status has deepened her respect for athletes like 1500m world record-holder and three-time Olympic gold medallist, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon, who has been held in such esteem for years.While Kipyegon is still the one to beat – and could face Hull at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year – the Australian is less fixated on defeating her, and more interested in getting the best out of herself.
“I’m focused on just ‘being one better’ than I was in Paris,” she says.“It’s a simple way of not screaming from the rooftops, ‘I want to win the Olympic gold medal!’ Because I do.But when you say it like that, it’s really intimidating.”Hull’s impact on the next crop cannot be understated as running participation soars in Australia.It is a responsibility she welcomes, having once been that kid collecting autographs at local track meets.
It was while showing Little Athletics participants in Gladstone her Olympic medal that she had the realisation it had taken 20 years of wholehearted commitment to get to where she is now.“Having a lot of ownership over my career in the last couple of years has definitely made that even sweeter.It’s like, I did that … I made the changes that I needed to make to give myself a chance.”
Rich plums and ripe tomatoes: Australia’s best-value fruit and veg for February
Tomatoes ripe for cooking, cheap watermelon and cucumbers for $2 a piece – but it’s the final call for apricots, cherries and mangoesGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailJuicy watermelon, deep-purple plums and ripe roma tomatoes are some of the vibrant fruit and veg highlights this month, says Graham Gee, senior buyer at the Happy Apple in Melbourne.“Tomatoes are plentiful, in particular the saucing varieties,” he says. “Roma varieties are sold nice and ripe, ready to make passata.” Cooking tomatoes are roughly $2 a kilo at the Happy Apple, with Australian field tomatoes going for about $5 a kilo in supermarkets.Watermelon is “very cheap”, says Michael Hsu, operational manager at Sydney’s Panetta Mercato
How to make moreish cookies from store-cupboard odds and ends – recipe | Waste not
I often eat a bag of salty crisps at the same time as a chewy chocolate bar, alternating bite for bite between the two, because the extreme contrast of salt from the chips and the sweetness of the chocolate fire off each other and create an endorphin rush. The same goes for these cookies, adapted from a recipe by Christina Tosi at New York’s legendary Milk Bar.Christina Tosi writes in Gourmet Traveller Australia how she first learned to make these cookies at a conference centre on Star Island, New England, where they’d bake them each week with a hodge-podge of different ingredients. Being on an island, they didn’t always have access to what they wanted, so they had to come up with a new recipe every week using whatever they had. In the spirit of the recipe’s origins, I’ve adapted Tosi’s recipe for the UK, and made it flexible, so you can raid your own store-cupboards and adapt and invent your own version from it
Camilla Wynne’s recipes for blood orange marmalade and no-bake marmalade mousse tart
If you’re intimidated by making marmalade, the whole-fruit method is the perfect entry point. Blood oranges are simmered whole until soft, perfuming your home as they do so, then they’re sliced, skin and all, mixed with sugar and a fragrant cinnamon stick, and embellished with a shot of amaro. Squirrel the jars away for a grey morning, give a few to deserving friends, and be sure to keep at least one to make this elegant mocha marmalade mousse tart. A cocoa biscuit crust topped with a chocolate marmalade mousse and crowned with a cold brew coffee cream, it’s a delightful trifecta of bitterness that no one will ever guess is an easy no-bake dessert.If you’re not up for preserving, make this using shop-bought thick-cut marmalade
The dump dinner: spaghetti is now being served straight on to the table – but why?
Name: Dump dinners.Age: Horribly new.Appearance: Feeding time at the zoo, but for humans.I’ve just Googled this. Apparently a dump dinner is a make-ahead slow cooker recipe
Australian supermarket coconut water taste test: ‘Smells like an island holiday’
Overcoming his irrational fear of coconut products, Nicholas Jordan tests a lovely – and lowly – bunch of coconuts in a rowIf you value our independent journalism, we hope you’ll consider supporting us todayGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI have a fear of coconut products. Like all fears it’s based on a questionable rationale and trauma, and my trauma is taste testing “health” coconut-heavy products that taste like soap. Which is why, until recently, almost all the coconut water I’d drunk was from a straw reaching out of a fresh coconut.Surely there’s no way a bottled coconut water, made from 100% coconut, could be that bad. Maybe it could be better than the real thing? I enjoy Melona more than the average honeydew melon
Miso mystery: red, white or yellow – how does each paste change your dish? | Kitchen aide
What’s the difference between white and red miso, and which should I use for what? Why do some recipes not specify which miso to use? Ben, by email“I think what recipe writers assume – and I’m sure I’ve written recipes like this – is that either way, you’re not going to get a miso that’s very extreme,” says Tim Anderson, whose latest book, JapanEasy Kitchen: Simple Recipes Using Japanese Pantry Ingredients, is out in April. As Ben points out, the two broadest categories are red and white, and in a lot of situations “you can use one or other to your taste without it having a massive effect on the outcome of the dish”.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more
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