The American and the Australian fought a classic duel on Thursday evening. In the capital of Hungary, both first scored one knockdown at the heights of 4.75 and 4.80, and then without any mistake beat 4.85 and 4.90, moreover, they were the only competitors in the entire competition. Therefore, the bar set at 4.95 was to decide about the gold, but neither Moon nor Kennedy managed to beat it.
WSC Budapest 2023. An exceptional situation in pole vaulting. Two gold medalists
After three failed attempts on both sides, the time has come for a key decision. There were two paths to choose from. One of them was to play overtime in the “sudden death” system (i.e. the moment of the first failed attempt of one of the players, which would end the competition), where the bar would probably go a little lower. This is how Piotr Lisek won the Polish championship in 2022. The second option was to give up jumping and award two gold medals. Moon and Kennedy did not debate for a long time and with an eloquent gesture jointly admitted that there would be no more jumps that evening.
The two instantly hugged and then began to celebrate to the great cheer of the crowd, which could bring back memories of the Olympic Games in Tokyo among the fans of the queen of sports, where high jumpers Gianmarco Tamberi and Mutaz Barshim made the same decision. Nina Kennedy, however, was not so sure that her rival thought the same about this topic.
I didn’t think she’d want to share it, I thought maybe we’d have to keep jumping. But I looked at her and said, “Hey girl, do you want to share this?” And the relief on her face was reciprocated on mine. And yes, it’s absolutely amazing to share a medal with Katie Moon. You know, we’ve been friends for so long, so this is something special
~ said the excited Australian after the competition.
Kennedy thus improved the success of the year before in Eugene, where she finished the competition in 3rd place. The gold was then won by Moon, who did not hide the joy of defending her title. “I’m at a point where I gave it my all. We went out and we both did basically the same thing and we just felt good. We both won today so it was the right decision,” she admitted.
The podium was completed by Wilma Murto from Finland, who scored her best result in the season with 5.80.
Katie Moon i Nina Kennedy/Getty Images
Pole vault medalists at the world championships in Budapest/Getty Images
Katie Moon and Nina Kennedy decided to share the gold medal in the pole vault / Getty Images
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2023-08-24 05:02:56
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