Linden Hall has stormed to a lifetime best and silver in the Women’s 1500m at the Brussels Diamond League overnight, while Olympic medallist Matthew Denny battled to fifth in a Men’s Discus showdown just weeks before the World Athletics Championships begin in Tokyo, Japan.
Hall (VIC, Ned Brophy-Williams) produced one of the bravest runs of her career, storming to second in a personal best time of 3:56.33 after daring to take on the pace and break away from the chasing pack.
Locked in with the pacemakers from the gun, Hall committed early, with the race quickly unfolding to see the Australian running on her own as soon as the pacemakers dropped away. For much of the final lap, Hall looked set for a famous win, only to be overtaken on the home straight by USA’s Nikki Hiltz, who timed her finish to perfection in 3:55.94.
The drama extended behind, with pre-race favourite Freweyni Hailu (ETH) falling in the pack and unable to recover, while Hall pressed on relentlessly to clock her second personal best in as many races as she campaigns for a fifth World Championships tilt appearance.
“I’m very happy with that, it was a little one (personal best) but I ran my old my old PB last week, so it’s been a very good week for me,” Hall said.
“My one plan was to get off really well and get on the rail. Last week I got stuck in Lane 2 in the early stages so I didn’t really love that. It was my main plan. I wanted to go with the pacers, but I didn’t really want to be the one at the very front but it’s where I landed so I tried to make the most of it and hold on.”
Matthew Denny (QLD, Dale Stevenson) placed fifth in a dramatic men’s discus final, producing a best of 66.29m in the second round, with the competition unfolding in an unexpected fashion.
While the Australian was solid once again on the circuit, it was Jamaica’s own NCAA champion Ralford Mullins who snatched victory with two throws beyond 69m, including a final-round throw of 69.66m to topple the “big four” of global discus.
World record holder Mykolas Alekna (LTU) was forced to settle for silver with his opening round throw of 68.82m, while Olympic medallists Kristjan Ceh (SLO) and Olympic champion Daniel Stahl (SWE) filled third and fourth.
“It was a weak comp. Everyone is in that period where they’re transitioning from a big block of training into getting ready for World Championships. It’s frustrating because I felt like I had more to give, but we have Zurich (Diamond League finals) next week and then Tokyo, which is the point of focus,” Denny said.
“I think it’s nice to show what showed up today under fatigue and what we need to do for next week, but full confidence that we can put some good numbers. I’ll do a little bit of then keep it simple between now and then.”
In non-high performance results, Australian TikTok star Olly Bowman produced the run of his life in the 100m Turbo Sprint for content creators, storming to 11.45 to adding to the Australian flavour of the meet.
The Diamond League series will culminate next week with the finals taking place over two days in Zurich, on Thursday, August 28 and Friday, August 29 AEST.
By Sascha Ryner, Australian Athletics
Posted: 23/8/2025
