Agency :
Australia’s Nina Kennedy soared to the gold medal in the Paris Olympics women’s pole vault on Wednesday, a year after she shared top spot on the world championship medal podium with American rival Katie Moon.
The 27-year-old Kennedy, the first Australian woman to win the event, cleared a season’s best 4.90 metres, fiercely pumping her fist several times after another epic battle with Moon.
“I wanted that outright gold medal,” Kennedy told reporters. “I didn’t want to share it this time. I became really confident in talking to the media, it was really scary, really vulnerable, to lay it all out there. I’m just really happy I got the job done.”
Moon, the Tokyo gold medallist and two-times world champion, cleared 4.85m to claim silver. Canada’s Alysha Newman went over the same height but was awarded bronze due to more missed jumps.
Kennedy and Moon decided to share gold at last year’s world championships in Budapest after they both vaulted 4.90m. Moon defended the decision after scathing criticism on social media, saying the danger of vaulting increases as fatigue sets in.