Australia win bronze in mixed relay at world cross

John Salvado | February 18, 2023

Jessica Hull has run a brilliant second leg and her three teammates all played important roles as Australia won a historic bronze medal in the 2km mixed relay at the world cross country championships in Bathurst.

The star-studded home team was in the gold-medal position at the halfway stage on Saturday when Hull handed over to Stewart McSweyn.

Traditional powerhouses Kenya and Ethiopia were always going to challenge hard in the closing stages and so it proved, with Kyumbe Munguti producing a superb third leg to set up the Kenyan victory.

Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom moved past Abbey Caldwell in the first 200m of the final leg but the youngster held her nerve to ensure Australia would win only their fourth medal in the 50-year history of the world cross country championships – and their first in the mixed relay.

Kenya clocked a winning time of 23 minutes 14 seconds, ahead of Ethiopia (23:21) and the Australian team of Ollie Hoare, Hull, McSweyn and Caldwell (23:26) on a brutally difficult course on the infield of the famed Mt Panorama motor racing circuit in Bathurst.

The South Africans were a further 24 seconds adrift in fourth place.

“I was just trying to stay patient and not get too carried away because I’ve done that plenty of times before,” said Hull, who surged past her Kenyan and Ethiopian opponents during the second leg.

“Chasing was probably a good way for me to run the leg because I was able to measure it out a bit more.

“… it was incredible (being first at the changeover).

“You see all the kids on the sidelines going nuts – it was pretty damned incredible.

“I was so confident in Stewy and Abbey to come, that they were going to run their hearts out.

“I knew we were in a really good spot, regardless of what colour medal we ended up coming away with.”

All four members of the Australian team are accomplished 1500m track runners, with McSweyn and Hull the national record holders, Hoare the reigning Commonwealth champion and Caldwell the 2022 Commonwealth bronze medallist.

But even more importantly, they are also experienced cross country runners.

“We went in with the plan that if we all ran 100 per cent and we all ran good races and wore the guernsey with pride, we were going to be right in the mix,” McSweyn said.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the team today.

“I thought we all executed good races.

“To compete with the powerhouses of Ethiopia and Kenya hopefully puts Australia on the world map, that maybe we are part of the big three of distance running now.”

With an electrical storm bearing down on Bathurst, the men’s individual race was brought forward 20 minutes to avoids the worst of the weather.

Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo powered home to claim the gold medal in 29:17, ahead of Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi and reigning Olympic 5000m champ Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda.

Ky Robinson was the leading Australian in 23rd place.

There was a dramatic conclusion to the women’s race, with reigning 10,000m world champion Letesenbet Gidey from Ethiopia collapsing to the ground in distress after being overtaken by Kenyan’s Beatrice Chebet 50m from the finish.

Chebet went on to take gold in 33:48, while Gidey was disqualified after two officials jumped the fence to come to her aid and help her across the line.

Australian Ellie Pashley was 19th, while Leanne Pompeani, Rose Davies, Caitlin Adams and Izzi Batt-Doyle all finished inside the top 30.