Australian Olympic hope Jess Hull has smashed her Oceanian 1500 metres record on a special night in Paris when two world records were sent tumbling.
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Hull beat her own mark in the Diamond League meeting at Stade Charlety on Sunday but was no match for Kenyan great Faith Kipyegon, who set a new landmark of 3 minutes 49.04 seconds.
Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh also soared to a world high jump record at a remarkable meet, sending out a chilling pre-Olympic warning to her Australian rivals Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson.
The two landmarks were shattered within an hour of each other, with double Olympic champ Kipyegon improving her own mark by 0.07sec after world champion Mahuchikh eclipsed one of the oldest women's marks by clearing 2.10 metres in the high jump.
In the metric mile, Hull was left celebrating her runner's up spot in 3:50.83, eclipsing her own Australian and Oceanian mark to move to fifth on the world all-time list.
Sydney's Hull pursued Kipyegon after the pacemakers dropped out, with the Kenyan star covering the third lap in 60.8 seconds as she increased the pace.
She kicked at the bell to open up a gap over the 27-year-old Hull, striding clear to take seven-hundredths of a second off the world record she set last year in Florence.
Hull was second in the first ever race to feature 12 women finishing inside four minutes.
"I knew the world record was possible because I recently ran very fast in Kenya," said Kipyegon, who clocked 3:53.98 at her home Olympic Trials.
"I was coming here to just run my race and to see what shape I'm in to defend my title at the Olympics."
Earlier, Mahuchikh surpassed by one centimetre the 2.09m jumped by Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova at the 1987 Rome world championships 37 years ago.
World indoor champion Olyslagers came off second best in a fabulous duel between the pair, as they both went over 2.01m at the second attempt.
But Olyslagers, the 27-year-old NSW jumper who's one of Australia's big hopes at the Games, failed three times at 2.03m, while Mahuchikh cleared it at the second attempt to win the competition.
It was then that she began to move into uncharted territory, first clearing 2.07m with room to spare on her way to a Ukrainian record.
Then she had the bar raised to a world record 2.10m and was left emotional to clear it at her first attempt.
"Coming into this competition, I had feelings that I could jump 2.07m and maybe 2.10m," said the 22-year-old Mahuchikh.
"Finally I signed Ukraine to the history of world athletics.
"My coach told me that maybe I should stop because I have the Olympic Games coming up - and, of course, that is more important - but I felt inside I could do it, and, to be honest, I wanted to try for the world record - and I did it at my first attempt!"
Her landmark jump will make Mahuchikh the outstanding favourite for the Paris Olympics, which begin in just under three weeks time.
Eleanor Patterson, Australia's 2022 world champion, could only finish fifth with a 1.95m leap.
Australian Associated Press
