John Wesley Harding wrote:
Your whole premise is wrong. Welteji ran 3:52.75 in the Olympic final, which is only 1.92 seconds slower than Hull’s PR, and she was only .19 behind Hull in that race. Last year she beat Hull at the Pre Classic (in May) by over 2 full seconds. Hailu’s PB is 3:54.16, 3.33 seconds slower than Hull’s PB, which she ran to win last year’s Rome DL in which Hull was 4th. Even Hiltz ran 4.50 off Hull’s PB to win the Olympic Trials, an unpaced championship race. None of those 3 were in the Paris DL where Hull ran her 3:50.83.
Not saying that Hull isn’t underperforming slightly, but acting like she’s 5 seconds better than these other women is totally false and misleading. She had a magical day in a perfect setup where she was able to draft off of Kipyegon for 1200 meters and then chase her on the rail to the finish; if you apply those circumstances to Welteji and Hailu, they’re also running 3:50-3:52.
Also, it’s easy to forget that it’s May 3rd and the WCs are in mid September.
Hull did World Indoors and Aussie Champs as well. By far the most ambitious of anyone.