Jessica Hull powers into 1500m final amid never-before-seen Aussie men's relay drama at Olympics

Aussie track star Jessica Hull has powered her way into a gold medal race at the Olympic Games after a stunning run in the semi-finals of the women's 1500m. It came after shattering scenes for Australia's 4x100m men's relay team in Paris, with the quartet missing out on a place in the final by the narrowest of margins despite breaking a national record.

However, Hull has announced herself as a red-hot medal chance for Australia in the 1500m after clocking her second fastest time ever (three minutes 55.40 seconds) to comfortably finish second in her semi-final and book a place in the final on Sunday morning (AEST). Ethiopian runner Diribe Welteji finished ahead of Hull in first, with Aussie Olympic great Tamsyn Manou describing it as an "exciting" performance and tipping Hull to go even bigger when she runs for gold.

“She’s got another gear. If she wanted to take this win, she takes this win,” Manou said on Nine coverage. Fellow commentator Gerard Whateley added: “This feels like the Bart Cummings preparation. It’s timed to the minute," referencing Australia's legendary race horse trainer.

Hull admitted she saw her Ethiopian rivals talking race strategy before the semi-final but said she just told herself to stick to her plan and keep things simple. And it worked to perfection. “I race these women a lot and customarily if the Ethiopians are talking to each other in the cool room in their own language, they’re probably going to do something together out there and I just figured Gudaf was telling Diribe to go and do certain things so it made it pretty simple for me," Hull said.

The 27-year-old said after her semi-final that it was shaping up to be a "mega-final" but declared she had what it takes to become the first Aussie since Herb Elliot in 1960 to win Olympic 1500m gold. To do so though, Hull will almost certainly have to topple legendary Kenyan middle distance runner Faith Kipyegon, who won the other semi-final.

“I do (believe I can win the gold),” Hull said. “It’s the greatest time for the 1500 ever, we’re saying 3:56 just to make the final from that heat so that’s insane. It’s a privilege to be in the position where people are talkiing about me as a medal contender, let alone a gold medal contender. Faith is not going to go down without an absolute fight, the Ethiopians are ready as well, so it’s going to be a mega-final.”

Heartache for men's relay team despite new Aussie record

Hull's joy came after shattering scenes for her Aussie teammates in the men's 4x100m men's relay heats. The Aussie quartet of Lachlan Kennedy, Jacob Despard, Calab Law and Josh Azzopardi set a new national record with a sensational time of 38.12 as they cut 0.05 seconds off the previous national record.

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But sadly for the Aussies, they finished behind a dominant USA, South Africa and Great Britain, with only three teams progressing through in each heat. It was even crueller for the Australian runners considering their time would have been good enough to grab second inn the next heat and see them progress.

"The lads ran amazing," Manou said on Nine's coverage. "The four men were just brilliant." Kennedy spoke for his other three teammates by admitting the Aussies were gutted to so narrowly miss out on a spot in the final, but incredibly proud of their record-setting exploits for Australia.

"It's a shame we didn't make the final but you can't do better than a national record," Lachlan Kennedy told Nine. "It's not every day that you get to run an Australian record. To do it at the Olympics is crazy so I think we should all be really proud of ourselves," Calab Law added.

Jacob, who ran the second leg for Australia, said the national record is something they've been eyeing off for some time. “We’ve definitely had the potential and the speed for a number of years and a lot of people have said ‘You’ve got the raw speed, why haven’t you broken it?’ Today we went out there and showed Australia what we can do and what we’re proud... An Australian record holder sounds pretty nice to me.”

with AAP