WHY COVID IS KEY TO NINA’S GOLD
I’m seeing it as best, let’s jump my very if that’s good enough for gold then cool. Nina Kennedy
NINA Kennedy wouldn’t be one of the top three pole vaulters in the world without the Covid pandemic.
For most, any mention of the lockdowns evoke memories of stress and sadness, not life-changing in a good way as it was for the Western Australian.
It meant Kennedy was able to press pause on her career and make some crucial decisions.
She started going on long walks and reflecting on what she wanted out of the sport.
She was already an Olympian and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist but she’d recently struggled with mental demons because of an injury-riddled body.
It was a classic crossroads moment and thankfully Kennedy, with the benefit of having that time to reflect and heal, decided that she not only wanted to keep going, she wanted to be the best in the world.
Changes to her life were made with Kennedy undergoing two months of sleep studies with the Western Australian Institute of Sport in an effort to get her sleeping in the most efficient way to maximise her recovery.
Her diet was overhauled, processed foods were out replaced by more organic varieties while there was a renewed focus on strength and technique with her new coach Paul Burgess, a former Olympic vaulter. The entire package saw Kennedy return a different athlete in 2021 where she broke the Australian record (4.82m) and was at the peak of her powers heading into the Tokyo Olympics before an untimely injury and an ironic negative experience with Covid derailed her campaign.
Kennedy was forced to isolate away from the Olympic village just days out from competition after having been at the same training positive for
Covid. She then failed to even get out of the qualifying round, finishing 12th.
Previously such a setback would have sent her spiraling but instead the 25-year-old dusted herself off and showed the world exactly what she was capable of at last month’s world championships in Eugene, Oregon.
A bronze medal after almost being eliminated at her opening height proved just how far she’d come since those long Covid walks a couple of years earlier.
“Going into Tokyo I was in redhot shape in the Australian season and then everything went downhill leading into Tokyo, injuries, quarantine and what not,” she said. “I definitely didn’t perform up to my standard in Tokyo. To come to the worlds a year later and perform how I know I can perform and to place in the top three in the world, that is where I know I should be and it is really rewarding.”
On her early troubles in the final where she missed her opening two attempts at 4.45m, Kennedy said she’d been more nervous watching her training partner Kurtis Marschall doing something similar in the men’s event.
“I can do that height with my eyes closed in training honestly so I think the stage got to me a little bit, the nerves because I hadn’t been competitive on a world stage like that for a very long time,” she said. “My teammate Kurtis did that in his qualifying round and I’m like, ‘Why the hell are you making me so nervous?’ I was more nervous for him than when I was actually competing as I think when you’re out there, you are in control of it and you know how to do it.
“Watching someone else was more nerve-racking so I was fine.”
She then went on to clear 4.60m, 4.70m and 4.80m on the first attempt each time to put herself into the bronze medal position.
There were only two other vaulters from Commonwealth nations in the world championships final — Canada’s Anicka Newell (9th) and New Zealand’s Olivia McTaggart (no height) — which is why the Australian is the red-hot gold medal favourite in Tuesday’s final. “I think you can have a few mindsets about it (being the favourite), you can see it as pressure but I’m seeing it as let’s jump my very best, if that’s good enough for gold then cool,” Kennedy said.
“I feel like I am running off some confidence and can just continue on with that.”