Aussie rising star Claudia Hollingsworth breaks national 800m record in stellar run

Almost from the time Claudia Hollingsworth made the decision three years ago to chase an elite running career over a crack at the AFLW, it appeared to be a matter of when, not if, that the Victorian would make the Australian 800-metre record her own.

And in the Polish city of Silesia late on Saturday night (AEST), the precociously talented 20-year-old produced a run that snapped up the record.

Hollingsworth and Abbey Caldwell, who also hails from Victoria, both bettered the previous 800m record at the Silesia Diamond League meet, but it's Hollingsworth's name that'll be inked in the books after the rising star stopped the clock at one minute, 57.67 seconds (1:57.67), in a race she placed fifth.

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Caldwell, who's talented in both the 800m and 1500m and races both distances regularly, finished just 0.03 of a second behind Hollingsworth, posting 1:57.70 to finish sixth.

The previous national record was the 1:57.78 set by Canberra product Catriona Bisset at the London Diamond League meet of 2023.

Bisset, 31 and a two-time Olympian, finished 10th on Saturday night (AEST) in 2:00.64.

The race was won by Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain, the reigning Olympic champion in the 800m, who in a dominant victory clocked 1:54.74.

In an ominous run ahead of the world athletics championships, taking place in Tokyo from September 13-21, Hodgkinson set a meet record and laid down the fastest time in the world this year.

Hollingsworth, who's coached by former Australian running star Craig Mottram, revealed post-race that a moment in the mirror had inspired the record-breaking run.

"I got into this mentality that they are quick races now, and if you want it to be quick, you have to be in it to win it," Hollingsworth said.

"I'm trying to be more aggressive and try different ways of racing leading into Tokyo because those heats are going to be quick leading into the semis, and hopefully the final.

"I had a look at myself in the mirror the other week and said that I don't want to be predictable. I don't want to just sit in during races and do my classic 200m kick; I want to be able to do that no matter where I'm positioned, and if that's up the front, then I want to try that."

Claudia (her name is pronounced Cloud-ia, not Claw-dia) played footy with the East Brighton Vampires and Sandringham Dragons but gave it away in 2022 to specialise in running — the other great talent area of her childhood.

At the age of just 19, she reached the semi-finals of the 800m at last year's Paris Olympics.

Hollingsworth and Caldwell were selected in April to contest the two-lap event at next month's world championships.

Hollingsworth said lifting her eyes to the big screen in Silesia and seeing she'd claimed the national record made for a special moment.

"It's pretty sick. To come down the home straight and not be sure but to look up at the big screen and see it was really exciting," Hollingsworth said.

"To share it with Abbey and Catriona was so special. Having three Aussies in a race like this is awesome."

Among the other top Australian performances in Silesia was that of Kurtis Marschall, who cleared 5.90m in the men's pole vault to finish third. Swedish sensation Armand Duplantis (6.10m) topped the field as Greek Emmanouil Karalis (6.00m) claimed second.

In the women's high jump, Australia's Nicola Olyslagers (neé McDermott) finished second with a jump of 1.97m, behind reigning Olympic and world champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh (2.00m).

Prodigious Canberra product Cameron Myers finished sixth in a messy 1500m race in 3:33.82, with Australian Commonwealth Games champion Oliver Hoare finishing eighth in 3:34.40.

Linden Hall, a former Australian 1500m record holder, clocked a personal best of 3:56.39 to finish sixth in the women's metric mile.

In the women's 3000m, Rose Davies finished fourth in 8:36.53 as Lauren Ryan took sixth in 8:37.56, a personal best, and Georgia Griffith seventh in 8:40.08.

Australia's Jessica Hull was one of two pacemakers in the 3000m for Kenyan great Faith Kipyegon, who fell agonisingly short in an attempt to break the world record.

Kipyegon clocked 8:07.04, finishing 27.49 seconds ahead of second place but falling short of the world record — the highly suspect 8:06.11 registered by China's Junxia Wang in Beijing in 1993.