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Australian Olympian Jessica Hull will pace Kenyan Faith Kipyegon on Saturday at the Silesia Diamond League meet in Chorzów, Poland. Kipyegon, a three-time Olympic gold medallist and four-time African and two-time world record holder, will chase the 3000 metre world record.

The record, set in 1993 by China’s Wang Junxia, is 8:06.11 in Beijing, China.

Hull, no slouch herself, is an Olympic silver medallist. She finished second behind Kipyegon during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games final.

in last year’s Olympic 1500-meter final in Paris, and is one of the greatest runners of her generation, with her 3:50.83 personal best ranking 5th on the all-time list. But it wouldn’t be accurate to call her Kipyegon’s rival. In the women’s 1500 meters, Kipyegon has no peers.

The 31-year-old Kipyegon ran the 1500m world record on July 5 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, to be the first under 3:50, with her 3:48.68.

The 28-year-old Hull has clocked an Oceania best of 3:50.83 during the Paris Diamond League meeting in July 2024.

Kipyegon has run 17 of the top 50 performances in history over the metric mile, including the top three times of 3:48.68, 3:49.04 and 3:49.11. She is the only athlete to run sub-3:50. Hull has the ninth-fastest time. She is the fifth-fastest athlete in history over the distance.

Junxia set the world record when she was coached by Ma Junren, the leader of the so-called Ma’s Army. Several athletes over a short period of time, all Chinese, all Ma’s Army runners, raced within China to world records or close to it from the 1500m to the 10,000m.

Junxia later came out to say that the entire team was doped. During the 1990s, she made an effort to tell her story to a journalist, but the story was shelved.

Junxia’s so-called world record has been chased for 32 years. The closest has been Kenyan Beatrice Chebet with her 8:11.56 from Rabat Diamond League on May 2025 this year.

u Junxia, Zhang Linli and Ma Liyan all ran sub-8:20 in Beijing at two meets, either in Sept 13 or Sept. 12, 1993. All of them are from Ma’s Army. Each of the athletes ran two world records back to back, one day a part — it is a bizarre and illogical statistic that should be erased from history.

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