Women’s 1500 Prelims: All Three Americans Cruise As Jessica Hull Opens Up On Her Dramatic Improvement & Nikki Hiltz Talks About Being A Non-Binary Icon

PARIS – Tonight the focus of the athletics world will be on the men’s 1500 but this morning while most track and field fans in the US were sleeping, the women’s 1500 got underway with little drama. Almost all of the medal favorites and all three Americans advanced to the semifinals with ease as one of the six auto qualifiers in each heat (Emily Mackay 5th in heat 1 in 3:59.63, Nikki Hiltz 3rd in heat 2 in 4:00.43, Elle St Pierre third in heat 3 in 4:03.22).

There was one major casualty, however, as 18-year-old Ethiopian Birke Haylom, whose 3:53.22 sb ranks her #4 in the world this year, was awful in heat 3 and finished 11th. She will have to try her luck in the repechage round on Wednesday afternoon.

Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, the 5000 world record holder who surprisingly failed to medal in the 5000 last night, rebounded quickly from her disappointment and was the fastest runner today as she won the first heat in 3:58.84. Behind her, American Emily Mackay made history in taking the final qualifying spot in 6th in 3:59.63 as she’s the first American to break 4:00 in an Olympic Games.

1500 world record holder Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, who won the silver in the 5000 last night after initially being DQ’d for jostling with Tsegay, had no problem qualifying in heat #2 (4:00.74 for 4th). Neither Tsegay nor Kipyegon stopped to speak with the media to give us their thoughts on what transpired on Monday night.

In the repechage round of the men’s 110 hurdles, Freddie Crittendon, who basically jogged an 18.42 in the first round due to an injury concern, advanced to the semis by running 13.42 to win his heat. In the women’s 400 Repechage, reigning Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo failed to move on as she was last in heat in 53.50.

Below we give the insight we learned from talking to the athletes after their races.

Mark Coogan is bullish on Elle St. Pierre’s chances and wondered if she left a medal on the table by not running the 5000

Outside of the stadium, I bumped into former Dartmouth coach and now New Balance Boston coach Mark Coogan. He was pleased with how Emily Mackay and Elle St. Pierre ran, particularly since it was a rust-buster for them as they didn’t race between the Trials and Paris. They were planning on racing a week ago but sabotage on the rail line cost them as what was supposed to be a 2-hour train ride turned into a 4-hour car ride (Coogan joked his navigational abilities in France weren’t the best) and they missed the race.

He also said it was hard to get his athletes to treat today’s race like any other – which is tough as it’s the Olympics.  

“I keep telling them, just treat it like a normal race as best you can. Even though it’s the Olympics and you can’t keep it normal, do it the best you can. Elle, when she went into the call room, she’s like, ‘Yeah, I know. [My son] Ivan is gonna be here when I get done and everything’s gonna be the same,’ but they still feel a little bit more pressure here now and like, Elle being a metal contender is a big deal. It adds a little bit of pressure,” said Coogan.

Since he referred to Elle as a medal contender but didn’t mention Mackay as a one, I asked about that he said, “The goal is for Emily to get into the finals and then you know, hope for the best.”

“So it looks like [Elle] left a medal on the track last night in the 5k maybe – third place looked really wide open last night in the 5k if Elle had chosen that one, but she loves the 1500,” said Coogan. But he had no regrets as he acknowledged the end of the race was quite fast – he thought it was an 8:25 final 3k and 59 final lap which is indeed what Italy’s Nadia Battocletti ran to finish 4th (8:25.9/59.5). But Sifan Hassan, who ended up third, actually closed in 8:23.2 (59.0).

Even though St. Pierre was only third in the 1500 at the Trials, Coogan was quite proud of how she ran. “Elle ran 3:55 and she led the whole race until 50 meters ago at the Trials. I don’t think any of the other women in that field could do that. You know, they got a free ride… and Elle also did the 5k there.”

St. Pierre was pleased with how she ran, particularly since the race was held so early in the morning (first heat started at 10:05 a.m.). “You know, the morning race is kind of hard to get into the zone,” said the two-time Olympian.

Mackay was also happy with her 3:59 and how she felt, particularly since she said she sometimes feels “a little bit flat in the first” round. “I usually feel like a little bit more sharp as the rounds go on,” said Mackay, who admitted it was quite an emotional day for her as just two years ago she was finishing up her career at Binghamton with a 4:11.10 pb in the 1500 at NCAAs that placed her just 6th.

“Honestly, like, it was a different kind of nerves than normal. I was very emotional on the way here this morning. And it wasn’t just nerves because I’ve felt them before where I was just so nervous that I would cry. Today I teared up (on the bus ride over) and it wasn’t just from nerves. It was from pride and just a feeling of accomplishment and like this belief of like the fact that I even made it here and yeah, the fact that I was headed to the stadium to become an Olympian was just, it was a dream come true. And that’s why I got teary-eyed this morning,” said Mackay, who gave a shout out to Binghamton coach Annette Acuff for helping her rediscover her love of running and setting her up to succeed as a pro.

Nikki Hiltz is thrilled to be at their first Olympics as their authentic self

Hiltz, a biological female who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, said they felt they were physically very fit at last year’s Worlds in Budapest but what held them back was their mind. So they have been working on that all year, practicing meditation and journaling and regularly talking to a therapist. Things seem to be in a good spot as Hiltz was very upbeat.

“I mean, it’s just this is my first Olympic team and it’s so amazing. I always wanted to make an Olympics but to make it and be here as my full authentic self, it just means so much. People are using my pronouns in the village and Team USA and my coaches are here and my people are here and it’s just like, I don’t know — I feel a lot of love and joy,” said Hiltz.

Hiltz said they’ve put up a lot of boundaries on social media so they don’t let some “idiot or jerk online” ruin their Olympic experience. For example, you can’t comment on their posts unless you already follow them.

I did take the opportunity today to ask Hiltz some deeper questions surrounding the debate around trans athletes competing in sports and Hiltz did a great job of answering them.

I asked Hiltz if they realized the trans athletes participating in sports discussion isn’t always simple as some trans advocates like swimmer Lia Thomas and her supporters tell us she must be allowed to compete in the gender she identifies as (which is different from her biological sex) but Hiltz competes in a different gender category than what Hiltz identifies as (but lines up with Hiltz’s biological sex).

“Yeah, I would never want my identity to be weaponized against my community. I think trans women are women and they deserve to compete wherever they’re comfortable. And I don’t have all the answers for what that looks like. But I just know sports has provided me so much joy and life lessons along the way. So I would just love to try to find a solution where everyone can play sports and everyone can be accepted. And it’s a safe space for everyone because yeah, I’ve experienced the backlash and weirdness of it all. I just want sports to be a place for everyone,” said Hiltz.

I then followed up with “But at the elite level is it a little nuanced for you because, obviously biology matters… there’s the people who say, Why don’t you ever wake up (and compete) in the men’s division? And I’m like, well, [they] wouldn’t be competitive. [They wouldn’t] have a job, right?”

Hiltz said, “I mean, it’s not that deep. I literally just identify as non-binary and I want people to use they/them pronouns. And you know, it’s basic human decency if someone goes, [Let’s say they are named] Michael at birth [and they say], ‘Oh, well, I want to be called Mike.’ You’re like okay. You don’t push back and be like, why would you want to be called that, Mike? I don’t get it. 

“Why don’t you compete…? I don’t know. It’s not that deep and yeah, I just used they/them pronouns and yeah I don’t 100% identify as female but that’s the category that I feel comfortable in.”

Jesssica Hull had a fascinating explanation for how she’s improved so much after leaving the Union Athletic Club to be coached by her had – she’s allowed to be a lot more reckless as if she gets hurt no one else is to blame: “Big groups sometimes can’t be that reckless, because they have a duty of care”

I asked Hull, who has improved 3:58.81 to 3:50.83 since leaving the Union Athletic Club last year, what she credited her improvement to. She had a fascinating and lengthy response where she started off by praising her previous coaches for getting her ready to be where she is now and then explaining she’s taking a lot more chances in training.

“I think everything I’ve done to date was super important. Also, I think everything I’ve done got my body to the point of handling this. But if anything, I train like a pure 8-15 runner now, like even a 3k probably would be way too long for me at the moment, like I’ve really, really tightened that range, and I don’t lift as heavy as I used to. I think I have a huge foundation. 

“So we’ve kind of just done a lot of paring things back and so that my intensity comes from my sessions on the track. My intensity in everything is what I do on the track, and then everything else supports that. And I think just stripping things way back and working on an area I’d never worked on, like, I’d never sprinted in training. And a lot of people would say, 27-year-old woman, you don’t start sprinting – you’ll hurt her. And I think the foundation that I had – that my body was strong enough to be like, OK, we can throw some really hard 200s and really hard 150s at her and just become way more economic at 61-62 pace that, I just never worked on that bottom end before, and I think we’ve done a great job doing it.

“But I also think there is a way that, like, having it just be Dad and I, [that] I’m driving this, and I can be a little more, like, hey, let’s just try this. And if we get hurt, I’ll own it, whereas I think a lot of the time, big groups sometimes can’t be that reckless, because they have a duty of care, whereas, if I’m the one driving it and I’m like, I feel good today, let’s push a few more reps, or let’s push a bit faster the end of the day, I’ve only got myself to blame if I’ve hurt myself. So, yeah, it’s been kind of fun to explore that, and we just feed off each other so well.”

Harvard’s Maia Ramsden’s advances with some help from Sarah Healy

The most dramatic of the heats was heat 2 where Harvard grad Maia Ramsden of New Zealand came from way back in the final meters to pass Ireland’s Sarah Healy, who was tying up, at the line to take the final semi spot, 4:02.83 to 4:02.91.

Ramsden admitted afterwards she had miscounted places and thought she was actually moving into 5th and not 6th at the finish but coach Alex Gibby told her to try to get every place regardless. Healy, who ran 3:57 at the Paris Diamond League, was at a loss as to explain why she felt so poor today. She said she just felt off and hopes she feels better in the repchage round tomorrow.

Freddie Crittenden felt much better today and is hopeful he’ll be even better when the semis roll around

Crittenden said after he ran over 18 seconds in the first round, an official either from World Athletics or the IOC wanted to make sure he was operating within the spirit of the Olympics and not trying to make some bizarre statement or protest. Once they realized there was a medical issue, they ruled out DQing him. 

As for today’s race, he said there were “some really good things happening” during his warm-up where he had some “a lot of big pushes.” He did feel his injury, which is in his adductor, a little bit in the race but is optimistic he’ll be able to give it a go in the semis.