At the 2023 World Athletics Championships, an iconic moment went down in track and field.  USA’s Katie Moon and Australia’s Nina Kennedy, for the first time in the competition’s history, shared the esteemed podium on August 23rd in Budapest, Hungary.

After intense competition, Nina Kennedy broke down in tears as she got the big news. Nina would be sharing the podium with the Olympic gold medalist and the 2022 World Champion, Katie Moon. The two women caused waves in the world of track and field with this decision. And now, months after the epic moment, the women’s pole-vaulting stars have opened up about the WAC gold.

The track and field stars open up about the shared podium moment

A post on X (formerly Twitter) was shared by The Olympic Games, captioned, “Sharing is caring! Pole vault world champions Katie Moon and Nina Kennedy reflect on their decision to share gold at the last World Athletics Championships.” In the post, the two legends were seen sharing the spotlight once more, speaking highly of each other. Moon said, “I think we just really saw what women’s pole vault is. At the end of the day, we all really want to beat each other, but we all really like each other too”. To which Nina Kennedy replied, “I look up to you. You’re the Olympic Champ; you’re the World Champ. And it’s like, the amount of respect I have for you as an athlete is crazy”.

The video continued with Katie saying, “And I remember thinking, you know, what I train my whole life for is to work so hard, that on a day I feel ‘off,’ I’m still contending for a world title”. Reminiscing on the moment and how much it meant to her, Kennedy said, “When it came to sharing with like one of the GOATS of the sport, I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s crazy to me!'”. She also continued saying, “So it was just kind of like a no-brainer, and I just feel like it’s going to go down in history, especially for women’s pole vault, and it’s nice we’re a part of that” with a huge smile on her face while she spoke of how the two made history.

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Why was the decision taken by the two?

On August 23rd, in Budapest, at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, the bar rose to 5cm above the previous year’s winning height of 4.85.   Still fighting for the top spot, the two athletes cleared the 4.90-meter mark; however, despite their three attempts at 4.95, they missed marking the height. Exhausted and tired, Moon and Kennedy decided to share the gold medal rather than continue attempting at 4.95. Kennedy told Olympics.com, “I didn’t think she’d want to share it; I thought we might have had to keep jumping. But, you know, I kind of looked at her and said, ‘Hey, girl, you maybe wanna share this?”

Katie Moon let out a sigh of relief as the two women had truly given their all in aiming for glory. Later, after facing immense backlash from many, Moon took to Instagram and defended their decisions in a wholesome post with a picture of the two hugging, writing, “The pole vault is not an endurance event. We have a short window of jumps. Once the fatigue sets in, it not only becomes more difficult but dangerous”. She spoke about the fatigue that was starting to set in with each attempt and stated that, in the moment, sharing glory was just as good as a personal victory.

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She also said in her post, “It was without a doubt the right decision, and one that I will never regret. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need a “win at all cost” mindset to have a champion’s mentality”.  Months after the iconic moments, the wholesome video of the two champions showing their utmost respect towards each other warmed the hearts of track fans worldwide.

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