Golden girl Nina Kennedy takes giant leap towards Paris dream

Busselton’s Nina Kennedy is Australia’s newest world champion and has high hopes for the Paris Olympics.

Pole vaulter Nina Kennedy celebrates gold at the world championships, where she broke her Australian record. Picture: Getty Images

There’s a new golden girl on the cinder block: Nina Kennedy.

The 26-year-old from Busselton is Australia’s first women’s pole vault world champion after a stunning gesture from her arch rival at the end of an extraordinary final in Budapest.

Kennedy and US defending champion Katie Moon both finished on 4.90m, with Moon deciding against a jump-off – leaving the pair with a gold medal each.

The West Australian burst into tears after the pair’s brief discussion, hugging Moon and then racing over to find her coach Paul Burgess in the crowd.

She’s been described by Burgess as one of the “great all-time clutch performers” who will now aim big at next year’s Paris Olympic Games.

“She amazes me,” Burgess said. “She was performing well (during the season) even though she hadn’t done a really big one.

“Just knowing Nina, I knew she was saving it for the world champs. She just knows how to turn it on.

“I still don’t think she was in charge of that comp until 4.85m when she jumped it. Until then, Wilma Murto, who got the bronze, was looking the best.

“Nina jumping the 85 really put her under pressure and maybe contributed to her tightening up.”

It’s a golden era for Australia’s female field athletes. At last year’s world titles in Eugene, Oregon, Eleanor Patterson won the high jump while Kelsey-Lee Barber won her second title in the javelin. Both will attempt to defend their crowns this weekend in Budapest.

Kennedy, a former gymnast, smashed her own Australian record en route to the biggest ­moment of her career so far.

Kennedy breaks her Australian record. Picture: AFP

Watched by her proud mother Gwenda in the stands, she went toe-to-toe with Moon, the reigning Olympic champion, with both of them clearing 4.90m with their final attempts.

They had earlier both had only one miss for the competition, the Australian at 4.75m and Moon at 4.65m.

Kennedy broke her own national record by three centimetres when she cleared 4.85m at her first attempt before delivering on 4.90m. She now joins the great Steve Hooker as an Australian pole vault world champion. He won the title in 2009 in Berlin, 12 months after he’d been crowned Olympic champion in Beijing.

The gold medal was within Kennedy’s grasp before Moon delayed the party by scrambling over 4.90m at her third attempt despite clearly hitting the bar, which somehow stayed on.

They both then had one good attempt each at 4.95m before shaking hands and agreeing to share the title.

Kennedy’s heroics even surpasses Tatiana Grigorieva’s thrilling silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. She had matched Grigorieva’s world championships record last year when she took the bronze medal in Eugene, Oregon.