Nina Kennedy rounds off Australia’s golden day at Paris Olympics with pole vault victory

As pole vault world champion Nina Kennedy took Australia to its 18th gold medal at the Paris Olympics, the nation’s best medal haul at the Games, she soared to new heights. After Kennedy had charged towards the uprights, forcefully planting her pole in the box, the 27-year-old flew upwards, gracefully lifting over the bar, before dropping cleanly to clear 4.90m. Kennedy did not know it at the time, but it would be the jump that won her gold.

It felt like an apt metaphor for an extraordinary Wednesday from the Australian Olympic team, the best single day in the team’s history, with a total of four golds and two bronze medals. What more appropriate way for the Australians to fly past history and make Paris 2024 the nation’s best Olympics yet?

Kennedy became the first Australian to win pole vault gold since Steven Hooker at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and the first ever Australian woman to win gold, bettering Tatiana Grigorieva’s silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Games.

More to follow.