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SBS VICELAND and will provide all the action from August 19-27, with live and free coverage of all sessions, as well as full replays, extended highlights and more available for Australian audiences.
Kennedy claimed the first Australian gold medal of the 2023 World Athletics Championships after clearing a whopping 4.90 metre jump in the Women’s Pole Vault final to share the world title with American Moon on Day 5.
The Western Australian fell just short of victory at the previous World Championships in Oregon last year a few days after her gold medal success at the Commonwealth Games.
She entered this year’s final after clearing the 4.65 mark in qualifying, and set out to avenge her previous effort at the Worlds in Thursday morning’s (AEST) final.
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Kennedy first cleared the mark of 4.80 to go into the joint gold medal position with Moon, before the Aussie broke her own national record of 4.85 with her next effort.
The American was up to the task however, as both cleared the 4.90 mark before the two competitors completed unsuccessful attempts at the soaring 4.95 metre jump.
After a heartwarming exchange, the Aussie and the American agreed on sharing the world title, with Finland’s Wilma Murto rounding out the podium in third with her best clearance of 4.80m.
“We were out there for such a long time – we were pushing each other to the absolute limit,” Kennedy said after the event.
“Katie is the world champion, she is the Olympic gold medallist, I didn’t think she would want to share it. I thought we might need to keep jumping.
“But I kind of looked at her and said ‘Hey girl, you maybe wanna share this?’, and the relief, you could see it on her face, and you could see it on my face, and it was mutual.”
Kennedy’s success brought Australia’s medal count up to two after Jemima Montag took home silver after a brilliant performance in the Women’s 20km Race Walk on Day 2.
