WA’s Olympic gold medallist pole vaulter Nina Kennedy opens up on nightmare 18-month run with injury

Olympic gold medallist Nina Kennedy’s near 18-month stint out of competitive action included one especially heartbreaking moment. Just days before the World Athletics Championships in September last year, the superstar pole vaulter was forced to withdraw from the event due to a muscle injury in her leg, which emerged after she had dealt with repeated hamstring issues in the wake of her win in Paris. She took up a role as a commentator for the championships and could do nothing but watch as Katie Moon — with whom she famously shared the title in 2023 — claimed another gold medal. Now nearing full fitness ahead of her return to action at the Perth Track Classic on February 14, Kennedy told The West Australian she was hugely looking forward next match-up with the American, whenever it may come. “Having to commentate the women’s pole vault was a dagger in the heart,” Kennedy said at the Coles Little Athletics Junior Challenge on Saturday. “She’s a champion for a reason, but I’m coming after her.” Kennedy said her injury-laden run in the wake of Olympic glory had been tough to deal with, but she had done her best to maintain perspective and take a chance to recharge. “I’d had such a good run-up to the Olympics, I’d had three global medals in three years and I hadn’t really had a year where I was significantly out,” she said. “I was two weeks out (from the World Championships), got my uniform, told the press I was going, and me and my team were ready. Unfortunately, at the last hurdle, I tore a muscle in my leg. That was frustrating, but I’m really happy I gave it a red-hot crack and we left no stone unturned. That’s what sport’s like sometimes. “To be able to not put that final piece of the puzzle into my training felt really anti-climactic and it was really weird. That was a bit heartbreaking.” Kennedy will start her preparations for a packed year, which is set to include the Commonwealth Games, national championships and the inaugural edition of the World Athletics Ultimate Championships by competing in Perth. She said she was “so pumped” to be making her return to competitive action in her home State. “Obviously, I had a bad year with injury last year and a few other things, but I’m so excited to shake the cobwebs out, get the dust off,” Kennedy said. “This is my favourite place to jump ever, I know these conditions like the back of my hand. There’s no better place to do it, with friends and family and all that. “A few people have said to me ‘I’ve got tickets, I’m going to be there’, and I’ve said ‘I’m really just using it as a training session’.” As hundreds of promising junior athletes cycled through a number of different events and disciplines at the WA Athletics Stadium, Kennedy said she would do her best to ensure some of them took up pole vault in the future. “We’re really trying to create a stronger pathway from athletics clubs into our sport. There isn’t really a strong pathway yet,” she said. “You can start at any age, I started at 12.”