In the strides after Jess Hull crossed the finish line in the race of her life in Paris on Saturday, the Australian put her hands to her face in disbelief as she burst into a smile, ecstatic to have won a silver medal at the Olympics.

With a capacity crowd at Stade de France roaring in approval, Hull became the first Australian woman to win an Olympic medal at a distance further than 800m with second in the 1500m final.

It was a magnificent effort that secured Australia’s 50th medal of an outstanding Olympics and secured the nation’s seventh in athletics, which is its best performance in track-and-field at a Games off-shore.

Her beaming smile was in stark contrast to the tears she had shed hours before the race after her mother texted a photograph of Hull as a 12-year-old at Little Athletics with a simple message: “Do it for this girl.”

She did. But the celebration is shared with her nation as well, and so too her rivals, who embraced and congratulated the Australian as she took a knee on the track to soak in a glorious moment in Australian athletics.

“I am just so proud and I appreciate everyone’s well-wishes and support, for getting up at 4.15am on your Sunday. I hope it was worth it,” she said.

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MARATHONERS TO CAP AN ATHLETICS SUCCESS STORY FOR AUSTRALIA

On Sunday in Paris, Sinead Diver, Genevieve Gregson and Jessica Stenson will set out through the streets of Paris in the women’s marathon in the Olympics’ final track event. It will cap what has been a superb track-and-field meeting for the Australian athletes.

From the moment Melbourne’s Jemima Montag walked to start the athletics meeting on August 1, several Australians have produced peak performances in Paris.

The deeds on the track in Melbourne in 1956, when champion sprinter Betty Cuthbert led Australia to four golds and 12 medals overall, are the gold standard for Australia. But the efforts in Paris overall sit on the podium, with the Australians securing seven medals.

By soaring high into the sky to win the women’s pole vault, Nina Kennedy secured a long-awaited gold medal at the Stade de France and was the only Australian to do so on the track in Paris in 2024.

Women’s high jumper Nicola Olysagers joined Hull as a silver medallist, while Montag secured a second bronze in the mixed marathon race walk with Rhydian Cowley.

Matthew Denny created Australian history when securing a bronze in the men’s discus, while Eleanor Patterson shared the podium with Olysagers in the high jump.

Matti Clements, the executive general manager of performance at the Australian Institute of Sport, praised the deeds of the track and field team and said the nation had demonstrated it can produce world-class performers in a range of events, not just in the pool.

“We of course have done well and are incredibly proud of the swimming results,” Clements told foxsports.com.au

“But what I am really pleased about is that as a country, we are not reliant on one sport anymore. We have had a breadth of sports medals and individuals (compete) who are likely to go to multiple more games and win medals as well, so it is incredibly exciting.”

A FEAT AS GOOD AS GOLD

But back to Hull, who is the woman of the moment and ran her heart out – and the hearts of Australians were bursting with pride as a result – to record her second fastest 1500m in a time of 3:52.56, just over one second from gold.

Only world record holder Faith Kipyegon, a legendary Kenyan who has now won the event in three-consecutive Olympics, was in front of the Australian. A world class field was in arrears.

The New South Wales runner was placed third coming into the home straight. The legend was too far in front. But Hull’s conviction kicked in. This was the moment to shine. To kick.

The finishing sprint is something she has worked on over the past 12 months when realising it was what was needed to separate her from the pack. And so it proved for all but Kipyegon.

Running bravely, she was able to reel in Ethiopian Diribe Welteje with 100 metres to go and then hold off the desperate lunge of England’s Georgia Bell to seize silver in a photo finish.

Bruce McAvaney, considered the doyen of Australian broadcasters and a man with an encyclopaedic knowledge of athletics, had the privilege of calling the final for the ABC.

“Jess ran the race of a lifetime. It’s a moment in Australian sport. Not a moment in Australian Olympics – in Australian SPORT. Jess, we are all so very proud,” he said.

Gerard Whateley, calling the race for the host broadcaster, declared: “It is a rare treasure. A feat as good as gold.”

Kipyegon furthered her iconic status as a middle-distance runner with the gold. But Hull’s achievement was celebrated not just in Australia but also in the American north-west.

After showing promise as a teenager – Hull won the under-17 national championship with a time 36 seconds slower than her silver-medal winning effort – she was lured to the USA.

She completed a degree in human physiology while running on a scholarship with the University of Oregon, where she was a star athlete and dual-NCAA champion.

The Ducks were among those eagerly tuning in to watch the seven-time All American run.

At the last Olympics, Hull set a new Oceanic record in the semi-finals of 3:58.81 and then ran 11th in the final in a field also featuring Melbourne’s Linden Hall.

The pair continued to push each other over the next two years, with the younger Hull setting the standard, only for Hall to wrest back the mantle for a period.

Over the past couple of years younger talents including Abbey Caldwell have emerged as challengers, while Georgia Caldwell also ran in heats with Hall in the 1500m in Paris.

Hall, a finalist in Tokyo and the co-captain of the athletics team, set a PB leading into Paris but then injured her calf on the day of the Opening Ceremony.

But she told foxsports.com.au prior to the Olympics that the depth in women’s running in Australia was outstanding and she hoped one of the pack would make it to the podium.

“It does make it a little bit stressful, but it is really cool to be a part of an event that … people are talking about, because we are running well,” Hall said.

“I think, if not for each other, we probably wouldn’t have run as quickly, which is, you know, a blessing and a curse in some ways.”

THE STANDARD BEARER

It is Hull who has taken the giant leap forward after returning home and training under her father, Simon Hull, for the past year.

He encouraged her to “dream big” and told the middle-distance star: “Why not you?”

She signalled herself as a serious podium chance with a brilliant run in Paris in July when clocking a time of 3:50.83, the fifth-fastest of all time, before setting a new world record in the 2000 metres at a meeting in Monaco later in the week.

Her vow to run aggressively and not meander in the middle of the pack is reaping rich rewards, even if the Kenyan great remains a couple of strides ahead at the moment.

“I thought, ‘I just want to run for gold and if I miss, I hope I get a medal’”, she said.

“I’ve wanted this moment for so long and to finally realise it, it was like, ‘Oh my goodness. I did it’. I’m just really proud.

“We’re getting closer to Faith, but she is still at the next level and she is a triple Olympic champion now. If you are going to get beaten by anybody, I’m more than happy it was her.”

Hull is three years younger than the Kenyan legend and, if she can continue to improve, shapes as a legitimate medal contender again in Los Angeles in four years time.

More importantly, she is hoping her silver sparks a new generation of runners at home.

“I just hope there are a lot of young girls that woke up today and have seen that (and think) they can do this too, now,” she said.

“You have to see it to be it and I think there are a lot of people who have seen it and think we can get amongst that in the next few decades.

“I’m just excited to be part of history.

“And I think I might have opened the floodgates for the junior girls back home that are running the 1500m.”