Olympic middle-distance runner Abbey Caldwell has tonight become the second fastest Australian woman in history over 1500m, finishing on the podium at the Shanghai Diamond League where she was joined by global medallists Kurtis Marschall and Matthew Denny.
Commonwealth bronze medallist Caldwell (VIC, Gavin Burren) produced the run of her life to turn the tables on Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull (NSW, Simon Hull) and Australian champion Claudia Hollingsworth (VIC, Craig Mottram) in the Women’s 1500m, carving three seconds off her personal best in 3:56.12.
Finishing in third place behind Birke Haylom (ETH) and Tsige Duguma (ETH) with Haylom breaking the tape in 3:55.56, Caldwell swooped in the final 200-metres to challenge for the win after a hot early pace was set by Hull.
“I honestly didn’t think even mid-race it would be that good. But to get a PB, I’m absolutely stoked!” Caldwell said.
“I knew I was very fit and I wanted to show that on the track. We have the luxury of coming off our domestic season in Australia and I knew I was race ready.
“I just needed to put my training into a race and I executed that, so I’m very happy. To be on the Diamond League podium for the first time is the biggest bonus ever – it’s amazing.”
All five Australian women in the race shattered four minutes and finished in the top 10, with Caldwell leading home Hull in sixth, Sarah Billings (VIC, Nic Bideau) in eighth, Hollingsworth in ninth and Linden Hall (VIC, Ned Brophy-Williams) in 10th.
Three-time global medallist Kurtis Marschall (WA, Declan Carruthers) picked up where he left off on the world stage when soaring over 5.80m in the Men’s Pole Vault, defeated by only world record holder Armand Duplantis (SWE) at 6.12m.
Marschall capitalised on early errors from his main rivals including Emmanouil Karalis (GRE) to apply the pressure in the back half of the competition.
“I’m very satisfied! Unfortunately, not many athletes jumped as high as they would have liked today. But it is so early in the season, everyone is grinding really hard,” Marschall said.
“At this competition last year, I only jumped 5.70m, so I’m very happy with the result of 5.80m today.
“We are still in quite heavy training. As we move forward, we will just lighten the load, freshen up, and start feeling a bit better towards the end of the season.”
Adding to the podium action, Matthew Denny (QLD, Dale Stevenson) launched the discus 67.54m to secure second place behind Kritstjan Ceh (SLO) who mustered a 70.58m throw for a new meet record, with Denny stringing together a strong series with his first five throws all over 66-metres.
Australian sprint king Lachlan Kennedy (QLD, Andrew Iselin) produced a strong start to his international campaign when clocking 10.01 (+0.6) for fifth place in the Men’s 100m, defeating notable rivals including Letsile Tebogo (BOT), Akani Simbine (RSA) and Christian Coleman (USA).
After an even start, Kennedy was left behind by Gift Leotlela (RSA) who won in 9.97-seconds as the first three men over the line broke 10-seconds.
Racing at his Diamond League debut, a valiant Luke Boyes (NSW, Ben St Lawrence) stepped up to the occasion to lead a star-studded 800m field into the home straight, finishing in fourth place with a new personal best of 1:44.16 as the race was won by Mark English (IRL) in 1:43.85.
The Men’s 3000m saw Seth O’Donnell (VIC, Andrew Russell) make his mark on the Diamond League stage for the first time, blazing to a time of 7:29.49 to become the third Australian man in history to shatter the 7:30 barrier after Cameron Myers and Stewart McSweyn.
O’Donnell claimed 11th place in the race which was won by Mohamed Abdilaahi (GER) in 7:25.77, showing strong form ahead of next week’s Xiamen Diamond League where he is slated to run 5000m.
Also delivering the fastest time of her career, Australian champion Cara Feain-Ryan (QLD, Ben Norton) produced a top 10 finish in the 3000m steeplechase, stopping the clock in 9:21.35 to climb to fourth position on the Australian all-time list.
Earlier in the night, reigning World Under 20 champion Torrie Lewis (QLD, Laurent Meuwly) was set a tough challenge from lane one in the Women’s 200m, finishing in ninth place in a time of 23.25 (+0.3).
In the pre-program events, Liam Adcock (NSW, self-coached) opened his campaign with an 8.00m (0.0) leap to narrowly miss the podium in the long jump, while Rose Davies (NSW, Scott Westcott) and Maudie Skyring (VIC, Craig Mottram) clocked times of 14:53.28 and 15:10.82 respectively to finish in 14th and 16th placings of the 5000m.
The Diamond League will continue next Saturday, May 23 in Xiamen.
Full results can be found HERE.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 16/5/2026
