{"id":325583,"date":"2023-08-23T23:53:09","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T23:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=325583"},"modified":"2023-08-23T23:58:29","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T23:58:29","slug":"want-to-share-aussie-splits-gold-medal-with-rival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=325583","title":{"rendered":"'Want to share?': Aussie splits gold medal with rival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian pole vaulter Nina Kennedy stood anxiously, discussing with Olympic and two-time world champion Katie Moon whether they would go for a jump-off or share gold at the world athletics championships<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Kennedy suggested they split gold and the American great\ufeff agreed, the Australian put a hand to her mouth and the two rivals embraced, sharing not only gold but a heart-melting hug inside Budapest's National Athletics Centre on Thursday morning (AEST).<\/p>\n

Kennedy and Moon swayed from side to side as they shared a lengthy hug, and the American patted Kennedy's back and planted a kiss on her right cheek.<\/p>\n

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Kennedy then\ufeff broke into tears, ecstatic that she had broken through for her first world title.<\/p>\n

And not only that \ufeff\u2014 the lion-hearted Western Australian had soared to the top of the world after battles with anxiety, depression and an awful number of injuries, including a stress fracture in her back that threatened to wipe out her 2023 campaign.<\/p>\n

Kennedy twice broke the Australian record already belonging to her as she cleared 4.85 metres and 4.90 metres.<\/p>\n

But Moon matched\ufeff both of Kennedy's vaults, setting up a battle at 4.95 metres.<\/p>\n

They then both failed on three occasions at that height and split gold.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"It is unbelievable. It's a huge honour to share this gold with Katie. It shows that dreams really do come true," Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

"Last year I didn't really believe that I belonged on the podium but tonight I was going for gold and really, deep down, I believed in myself and came up with the goods.<\/p>\n

"I have been planning the competition in my head for so many months now, it's such a battle.<\/p>\n

"Katie is the Olympic champion, she's the world champion and she's honestly one of the greatest in the sport, so to share it with her is an honour and a privilege and will mean that we'll be connected forever.<\/p>\n

"When we were equal, we were both looking at each other. I didn't think she was going to want to share it. I said to her, 'Hey girl, you maybe want to share?'. You could see the relief come over her face, and she was like, 'Yes!' and then we both started crying."<\/p>\n

The agreement Kennedy and Moon settled on was reminiscent of the \ufeff2021 Tokyo Olympics men's high jump final, which resulted in Qatar's Mutaz Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi agreeing to share gold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kennedy's victory is the new crowning moment in her admirable career, which last year yielded world championship bronze in Eugene and Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old shattered her personal best by eight centimetres to haul in Australia's first women's pole vault world title.<\/p>\n

She won Australia's first pole vault world title since Steve Hooker triumphed in Berlin in 2009.<\/p>\n

She's Australia's 11th world champion in track and field and ranked ninth on the world all-time women's pole vault list.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Earlier on day five of the world championships, Australia's Kurtis Marshcall \u2014 a training partner of Kennedy \u2014 advanced to the final of the men's pole vault with a clearance of 5.75 metres.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Remarkably\ufeff, Australia's last eight world championship medals have been won by women \u2014 and more women could be set for glory after Kelsey-Lee Barber, Mackenzie Little<\/a> and Kathryn Mitchell booked their tickets to the women's javelin final.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mitchell\ufeff and Little secured automatic qualifiers by chalking up throws of 62.20 metres and 63.45 metres respectively, but Barber \u2014 who's gunning for an historic third world championship gold in succession<\/a> \u2014 faced an agonising one-hour wait before scraping through to the final as a non-automatic qualifier. Her best throw of 59.66 metres secured the 12th and final qualification spot, and was only seven centimetres further than that of 13th place.<\/p>\n

Australia's dancing hurdler, Michelle Jenneke<\/a>, had another brilliant run in her sizzling 2023 campaign. The 30-year-old posted a 12.80 (-0.4) to claim fifth place in her semi-final of the women's 100-metre hurdles, snaring a spot in the final.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Australian middle-distance runners Catriona Bisset and Abbey Caldwell progressed to the semi-finals of the women's 800 metres. Bisset finished second in her heat and clocked 1:59.46, while Caldwell finished third in her heat in 2:00.29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian pole vaulter Nina Kennedy stood anxiously, discussing with Olympic and two-time world champion Katie Moon whether they would go for a jump-off or share […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":325585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=325583"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325589,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325583\/revisions\/325589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/325585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=325583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=325583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=325583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}