Linden Hall looks to Tokyo Olympics final after winning 1500m at Canberra Track Classic

The Victorian athlete advanced to the semi-finals at the 2016 Rio Games, only to fall short by 0.21 seconds from a top 12 berth.

No Australian woman has achieved that feat since Margaret Crowley finished fifth in Atlanta, but now that Hall has earned qualification to July's Olympics the final is in her sights.

The middle-distance star beat the Olympics qualifying standard with a dominant victory in the women's 1500 metres Canberra Track Classic on Thursday night.

Hall ran alone at the front for the final two laps, finishing eight seconds ahead of fellow Victorian Abbey Caldwell to clock at time of 4:02.02 in wet conditions.

National record holder Jessica Hull has also bettered the qualifying mark of 4:04.20 on three occasions, with the domestic rivals now turning their focus to Tokyo and breaking Australia's finals drought in the event.

"In Rio I missed the final by 0.2 of a second, so being on the other side of that is the other number one goal," Hall said.

"Being in the final is really huge in athletics, every country in the world runs so it's a really deep sport at the Olympics. To make a final would be huge, I don't think an Australia has made the 1500 final since Atlanta.

"It would be incredible if we can do that, Jess is running amazing so if we could both get in the final that would be huge for Australia."

Hall will now have to win the national title to secure automatic nomination for the Australian Olympic team.

Running her first Tokyo qualifier came as a relief for the 29-year-old, having missed it by just 0.1 seconds at the Zatopek:10 in January.

"I knew it was there, it was just a matter of getting it done and making the most of it," Hall said.

"In the last lap, I was like 'woah, don't blow it now you've gone too far.' I'm really glad I was able to hold on, missing it by 0.1 in my last race was the best motivation I could have had for my last few weeks of training.

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"When you are so close, finding 0.1 in a four minute race is not hard.

"It just takes so much pressure off, it means I can have a bit more fun for the rest of the season and focus on being ready for Tokyo."

The victory came a week after Hall broke the 1000-metres national record for Catriona Bisset's 30 for 30 fundraiser at the Box Hill Burn.

In other results at the Canberra Track Classic, Jaryd Clifford broke his own world record in the T12 1500 metres event - crossing the line at 3:41.34.

He finished third overall in the middle distance race, behind Jye Edwards and the ACT's Tomas Palfrey.

Canberra-based T38 Paralympian Deon Kenzie also broke an Oceania record by clocking 3:58.43 in the men's 1500 metres B race, just days after he became the first Australian athlete with cerebral palsy to run that distance sub four minutes.

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