Nina KENNEDY

On her senior debut at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing, Kennedy no-heighted and suffered the same fate at the World U20 Championships in Poland the following year.

She had to withdraw from the 2017 World Athletics Championships with an injury, but Nina Kennedy had a remarkable year in 2018. She raised her personal best to 4.71m and at the National Championships, she beat New Zealand’s Olympic bronze medallist Eliza McCartney.

Nina Kennedy also won her first senior international medal for Australia after bagging the bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games held on home soil. Despite being injured six weeks before the tournament and only having two practice sessions, she finished in third place with a jump of 4.60m.

In contrast, 2019 proved to be a difficult year for Kennedy who struggled with several injuries which in turn, affected her mental health.

As a result, she missed most of 2019 and struggled with depression for being sidelined for such an extended period. But the memory of winning bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast helped motivate her in recovery.

She slowly recovered her form over the course of the 2020-21 season and raised the Australian record to 4.82m at the Sydney Track Classic. However, a spell of injuries and COVID-19 disruptions ruined her positive momentum once again.

Kennedy’s debut Olympic campaign at Tokyo 2020 proved to be a harrowing affair. Having survived a minor COVID-19 scare, she was isolated away from the Olympic village and was also nursing an abductor injury. It took a mental toll and Aussie considered pulling out of the event.

But she fought through the adverse situation and cleared 4.40m but failed her attempts at 4.55m in the qualification round. As a result, she couldn’t make it to the final of the women’s pole vault at Tokyo 2020.

After the low of Tokyo 2020, Nina Kennedy finally found a positive turn in her career after winning the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, USA. Just two weeks later, she became Commonwealth Games champion with a leap of 4.60m in Birmingham.

This was followed by wins in the Monaco Diamond League and the final in Zurich with a season-best of 4.81m which made her only the fifth Australian to be crowned Diamond League winner.

Success continued with Kennedy winning the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. She shared the title with USA’s Katie Moon after the Tokyo Olympics champion matched the Aussie’s attempt of 4.90m. Kennedy also improved the Australian national record once again.

A week later, at the Zurich Diamond League, Kennedy won with a leap of 4.91m, becoming the seventh-highest female vaulter in history and raising the Australian national record a fourth time.

While injury scares would rear their ugly head once again towards the closing half of 2023, Nina Kennedy etched her name in athletics immortality after winning the gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

She matched her World Championship-winning leap of 4.90m in the final at the Stade de France, beating defending champion Katie Moon, who settled for the silver medal.