"Hey girl, maybe you want to share this": Katie Moon and Nina Kennedy share gold medal in pole vault at 2023 World Athletics Championships

The 2023 World Athletics Championships witnessed a historical moment when America's Katie Moon and Australia's Nina Kennedy decided to share the pole vault gold medal on Thursday, August 24.

On Day 5 of the world championship in Budapest, Moon and Kennedy both cleared the bar at 4.90m, creating a deadlock. They both then tried to clear the 4.95m mark, but failed in each of their three attempts.

Moon and Kennedy at Day 5 of World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023

After a physically and mentally draining experience, Moon and Kennedy decided against competing in the jump-off and shared the gold instead.

After the event, 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Katie Moon talked about how they came to the decision. She told reporters:

"You don’t expect that it’s going to come down to something like that, and it’s funny because I never knew what I’d do in the moment, but it was such a battle and exhausting competition, and when I went out at 95 I was just really fatigued."

Moon was initially prepared to compete in the jump-off but changed her mind as soon as she saw that Kennedy was hesitant about the decider. She said:

“I said, ‘Okay, I want to jump’ and she said, 'You do?’ and then I was like wait a minute, there was an immediate [reaction] unless you want to share. She was like ‘Are you sure, are you sure?’ and I was like ‘Yes, absolutely’.”

Nina Kennedy didn't think that Moon would be open to sharing the gold, given her magnificent track record in the event. Kennedy said:

“Katie is the world champion and the Olympic gold medalist, she’s a fierce competitor and I didn’t think she’d want to share it. I looked at her and said ‘Hey girl, maybe you want to share this’ and you could see the relief in her eyes and on her face. It was mutual.”

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Katie Moon and Nina Kennedy took inspiration 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalists Gianmarco Tamberi and Mutaz Essa Barshim

Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim sharing gold medals in Tokyo Olympics 2021

Katie Moon also said that the inspiration to share the gold medal with Nina Kennedy came after remembering the iconic moment during the high jump event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim had set an example of friendship and sportsmanship that year.

Both the high-jumpers performed brilliantly, clearing the 2.37 meters landmark on their first attempt. But when the bar was raised to 2.39 meters, the athletes failed to accomplish it in three attempts.

As a tie-breaker, they were asked to compete against each other in jump-off. However, Tamberi and Essa Barshim, who have been good friends for years, decided to share the Olympic gold instead.

Remembering that incident, Katie Moon told reporters:

“I didn’t know it was even possible until those guys did it – so I definitely thought back to that and thought wait, we don’t have to jump again, that would be crazy.”