Nina Kennedy vaults to record 18th gold for Australia | Olympics

Nina Kennedy achieved a historic feat by winning the women’s pole vault event at the Paris Olympics, securing Australia’s 18th gold medal.

She successfully cleared heights of 4.80m, 4.85m and 4.90m on her first attempts before missing out on 4.95m.

Despite this, the $1.54 bookmaker favourites jump of 4.90m was enough to secure the coveted gold medal.

This victory not only added to Australia’s four gold medals for the day but also marked Kennedy’s first global title.

With this win, she joined the ranks of champions that contributed to the nation’s record breaking achievement of 18 gold medals in a single Olympics.

Surpassing their previous bests from Athens in 2004 and Tokyo in 2020.

In a turn of events, American athlete Katie Moon claimed the silver medal after a tough three-hour competition, with Canada’s Alysha Newman securing bronze and jumping a personal best.

Kennedy’s journey to gold began with a bronze at the 2022 World Championships, and she then shared victory with Moon at last year’s World Championships in Budapest.

Kennedy made history as the first Australian woman to claim gold in the pole vault, surpassing Tatiana Grigorieva’s silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Games.

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