Soaring to New Heights

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, US, professional pole vault athlete Nina Kennedy placed third among some of the greatest women in the sport.

A month later at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK, she hit her stride and soared to gold, maintaining her radiant streak at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary with a gold won jointly with US Olympic gold medallist Katie Moon.

Ms Kennedy would go on to repeat this feat on the most prestigious stage of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, where she showed the world both her mettle and medal – another brilliant gold.

However, an illustrious career of flying high is not without its swooping lows, as Ms Kennedy found herself grounded for the first time in October 2022, when back pain turned out to be a fracture in her fifth lumbar vertebra.

After four weeks of immobile bed rest, she took the experience in her stride and never let it stop her.

At the annual invitation-only Weltklasse Zurich in August 2023, Ms Kennedy achieved not only a personal record but also an Athletics Australia record – a 4.91m jump and the fourth time she had raised the national record.

A month later, the same stress fracture would rear its ugly head in both Ms Kennedy’s fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae, resulting in two months of bed rest.

“Injuries are inevitable in sports, however I’ve learnt some of the toughest and most valuable lessons from them,” she said. “They have taught me how to work smarter not harder and to bring a sense of curiosity to situations.

“Most importantly, injuries have taught me to take ownership and responsibility for things that happen.”

When Ms Kennedy is not airborne, the Busselton-born local is back home helping out at Little Athletics training sessions and inspiring future generations of Australian-grown athletes.

“Giving back to the sport and community which has served me so fondly is so special,” she said.

“Knowledge is passed down through going into the community and having conversations.

“It feels strange being a role model, but I remind myself of all the great lessons and qualities sport has provided me and I hope those are the things which shine through and are passed on to the younger generation.”

When it comes to where she draws inspiration, Ms Kennedy said it was from the women in her life – her mum and sister, old teachers, training partners, past and present athletes and her best friends.

“To me, International Women’s Day is a reminder to reflect on the progress made in advancing women’s rights, acknowledge the work which still needs to be done and, most importantly, celebrate all the women in my life personally and tell them how amazing they are,” she said.

Ms Kennedy said gender equality in sports was a matter of importance.

“I grew up in a time when I didn’t have any women playing sports on the television screen, which meant I only really had male role models growing up,” she said. “There is still such a long way to go to reach gender quality in sports – from women’s employment rates in the sector to equal pay, as well as the need for much more research and study into women in sports specifically.

“If I could give my younger self any piece of advice, it would be to dream as big as you can because you never know what might happen.”

As it appeared in the 2025 March 7 edition of The West Australian.