Nina Kennedy

Nina Kennedy was born in Busselton, three hours south of Perth, but completed primary school in Perth where she joined her first club, Perry Lakes Little Athletics, aged 11.

She loved the Athletics Day in primary school and started pole vaulting when she was 12, after a pole vault coach talent identified her at an athletics meet.

In 2012, aged 14, Nina placed second in the senior Australian pole vault championships with a PB of 4.10m. She progressed in 2013, setting a best of 4.31m and placing fifth at the IAAF World Youth (U18) Championships. At the 2014 IAAF World Juniors, she vaulted a PB 4.40m, just missing a medal and finishing fourth.

In February 2015 in Perth, she made a massive breakthrough, raising her PB three times in one competition, clearing 4.43m, then 4.50m and finally 4.59m – a world junior record. This mark qualified her for the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, where unfortunately she no heighted in her senior debut. She suffered the same fate at the 2016 IAAF World Juniors. 

In March 2017 she qualified for the IAAF World Championships in London, but less than two weeks before the world championships she withdrew battling a quad injury. She wrote on her Instagram account: “Deciding to withdraw from World Champs has broken me, I’m speechless. Onwards and upwards nevertheless. Thank you to everyone in my support team + good luck to the Aussie team.”

Nina came back better than ever in 2018. She first raised her PB to 4.60m and a week later moved to number three Australian all-time with a vault of 4.71m. At the National Championships she vaulted an excellent 4.60m, as she defeated New Zealand’s Olympic bronze medallist Eliza McCartney, who no heighted.

At the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games she won bronze. She was injured six weeks prior to the Games and only had two vault sessions – an achievement she regards as the best moment in her sporting career.

Injury dominated 2019 with quad, hamstring and glute tears, plus spine and back troubles she also struggled with her mental health. “There were stages where I was so low I couldn’t complete or even start any of my training sessions,” she said.

Pre-COVID in early 2020, Nina was back to her best, clearing her second-best ever height of 4.61m. Over the summer of 2020/21, she was incredibly consistent with eight consecutive competitions at 4.70m or higher. The form led to her raising the Australian record to 4.82m at the Sydney Track Classic.

But her great preparation was then marred by injury and COVID-19 disruptions. At the nationals she tore her calf in the warm-up, but was still determined to compete, winning with a height of 4.75m.

Despite another injury (abductor) ahead of the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, she did her best to remain positive. The final challenge for Nina was when she found herself in a window-less room in the days leading up to the Olympic pole vault, having been involved in a COVID-19 scare. She was forced to isolate away from the Olympic village just days out from competition after having been at the same training venue as American pole vaulter Sam Kendricks, who would later test positive for COVID.

“That took such a mental toll. I was very, very close to pulling out. That would have been the easier thing to do.”

But Nina, battled on, making it to the event in an empty Olympic stadium, where she cleared 4.40m, but missed her attempts at 4.55m, in the rain-effect qualification round.

“The fact that I even got out there and I was standing on the runway was a sigh of relief,” Nina said.

After Tokyo Nina immediately bounced back in 2022 at the world championships in Eugene. After stumbling at her opening height in the final (4.45m) requiring three attempt to proceed, she produced a clean sheet of first attempts at 4.60m, 4.70m and 4.80m, as the competition gradually fell away.

With only three athletes remaining in the competition, she was guaranteed a medal, eventually settling for bronze after unsuccessful attempts at 4.85m and 4.90m. Her medal was just the second by an Australian in the event.

Two weeks after the world championships she won the Commonwealth Games title with a leap of 4.60m. This was followed by a win at the Monaco Diamond League and a win in the final in Zurich with a season best of 4.81m. She became just the fifth Aussie to become a Diamond League champion.

During 2022 she had placed in the top-3 in 11 of 12 meets and 1st or 2nd in her four Diamond Leagues.

In October 2022 scans showed a Nina had a fracture in the L5 vertebra, resulting in a four-week rest before she slowly resumed training. At the Budapest World Championships Nina was extraordinary. Always in a podium position, she was over 4.75m on her second attempt, then 4.80m and 4.85m at her first attempt – the later an Australian record. But she continued, nailing 4.90m on her third attempt.

American Katie Moon matched her as they remained tied in first. They spoke and agree to the recently adopted World Athletics rule where they can share the medal. The clearance was another raising of the Australian record and Nina became just our 11th world champion. The height would have won gold at the previous world championships and equal gold at the Tokyo Olympics.

A week later Nina competed at the Zurick Diamond League where the pole vault was held indoors at a railway station and she won with a higher vault of 4.91m. It was a world lead, and she was now the seventh highest vaulter in history. It was her fourth raising of the National record. 

But there would be more injury challengers for Nina – she outlined on social media.
“So after the season finished last year in September (2023) - we scanned my back and found a stress fracture. 

I had this exact injury at the same time a year before,” Nina wrote.

“After two months of sitting on my a.. (hence no training content), I’ve started building back up slowly and things are going well.” She commenced running in December.

She was quickly back on track opening her season in Perth in late March 2024 with 4.62m, then winning Nationals with 4.65m and then placing second in May at the Dohan Diamond League vaulting 4.73m.