Kennedy adds another jewel to her crown as Diamond League champion
Published Sun 15 Sep 2024
Olympic champion Nina Kennedy has added the title of Diamond League champion to her growing list of accolades from 2024, while Jessica Hull rounds out her season in third place at the final edition of the world’s premier track and field series in Brussels.
After a miss at her first effort at 4.80m, Kennedy (Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick) was forced to dig deep to clear 4.88m on her first attempt, to move past Sandi Morris from the USA.
It was the eighth consecutive win for the Australian record holder and her second Diamond League trophy in two years, as Kennedy cements herself amongst the all-time world’s greats in women’s pole vault.
“It was probably one of the highest-pressure environments I’ve competed in this year. I’d gone seven wins in a row and felt the girls were out for blood tonight. I could feel it,” Kennedy said.
“4.88m on my first attempt will get you the win. I wanted 4.95m. I’ve had the best and most consistent season of my life but I didn’t get a personal best this year. It’s a Diamond League final for a reason though. It’s the seven best girls in the world and they made me really earn it tonight.”
On the track, Jessica Hull (Simon Hull) powered home up the finishing straight to place third in the women’s 1500m final in 3:56.99.
After a dream season that included a world record over 2000m, another Australian record over 1500m and Olympic silver, the 27-year-old said she was pleased with her decision making throughout the race to land herself her 15th podium finish of the year.
“That caps it off perfectly. The best finish in a Diamond League final to cap off a year that I kept surprising myself in,” Hull said.
“I just wanted to be a bit safer tonight. This time of the year, the wheels can fall off and I really didn’t want that to happen so I needed to run a bit smarter. I knew I could pick some pieces up in the race, so with 500m to go it was instinctively getting off the race and had a battle with Freweyni (Hailu) down the home straight and I thought, how good is that! Final one for the year!”
After a long campaign which has seen her in Europe since May 17, Georgia Griffith (Nic Bideau) was rewarded with a lifetime best in the last race of her season, clocking 3:58.40 for 6th place in the series final.
Olympic finalist Mackenzie Little (Angus McEntyre) unleashed a third-round best effort of 61.50m, which was far enough for 5th place in the women’s javelin final. Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan threw a season best with her last throw of the year and final throw of the competition to win with 66.13m.
After six months, 14 cities and four continents, the most prestigious global athletics series has now concluded for 2024.
By Richard Welsh for Athletics Australia
Posted: 15/9/2024
