3 days Ago By Martha Riley
Mondo Duplantis has stolen the headlines in pole vaulting in recent years, and he now appears to have a female counterpart. While the Swedish superstar rounded off an historic year with Diamond League victory in the men's event, Nina Kennedy was busy completing a dominant season of her own in the women's discipline. The Australian followed up her Olympics glory by taking the annual series title in Brussels, and did so in emphatic fashion.
Kennedy stormed to an eighth successive competition win at the last Diamond League meeting of the year to claim top prize, earning a $30,000 prize in the process. It proved to be a comfortable victory for the 27-year-old, with her rivals unable to better her first-time 4.88m clearance.
America's Sandi Morris, Paris 2024 bronze medallist Alysha Newman and Britain's Molly Caudery were all only able to manage a best of 4.80m, leaving Kennedy to attempt a record of her own. The 2023 world champion set her sights on beating her personal best of 4.
91m, set in Zurich last year, but ultimately was unable to clear her 4.95m target, coming close on the final attempt. But this did little to dampen the mood for Kennedy, who later shared her delight at defending her crown against fierce competition.
She said: “It was probably one of the highest-pressure environments I’ve felt. “I’d got seven wins in a row, and I really felt like the girls were out for blood tonight. I could feel it.
" “It’s the Diamond League final for a reason. We’ve worked our asses off to get here, so it’s the seven best girls in the world right now and they made me earn it.” Kennedy did admit that she was disappointed to miss out on a personal best, which would have seen her end the season in the ultimate fashion, having clinched her first ever Olympic gold at Paris 2024.
She added: "It's weird. I've had the best, most consistent season of my whole life but haven't jumped a personal best, so it's a bit bittersweet," "Now I'm so ready to go home, I miss Australia so much." Her season-ending victory rounded off a strong Diamond League campaign for the Australians, with Kennedy one of four from the country to secure a podium finish in the Belgian capital.
Olympic silver-medallist Jess Hull clinched third place in the women's 1500m, while Matty Denny took home gold in the men's discus and high jumper Nicola Olyslagers won a silver medal. Meanwhile for Kennedy, her recent heroics proved her to be every bit the dominant force in the women's discipline that Duplantis has been in men's pole vaulting in recent years. The Swede has repeatedly stunned the globe this summer by claiming back-to-back Olympic gold medals, as well as breaking the world record for a staggering ninth time.
Duplantis showcased his incredible athleticism even more by taking on 400m hurdles world record holder Karsten Warholm in a 100m exhibition race following the Games. He stormed to victory , setting a personal best time of 10.37 seconds, while his friendly rival came second, also with a PB of 10.
47. But it was arguably Kennedy who stole the show this time around in the year-end showpiece with a dominant display. Duplantis also ran out a comfortable winner, but fell short of his supremely high-standards as he missed out on beating his own record for an 11th time.
The 24-year-old lifted his fourth Diamond League trophy whilst jumping 6.11m, 15cm off his current best, and later admitted to 'feeling terrible'..
