Sometimes, playing for the tie does pay off.
Two legendary pole vaulters agreed to share a gold medal at the world championships in Budapest after a tight battle on Wednesday night.
Nina Kennedy, an Australian former champion with the country’s all-time record in the pole vault, may have thought she defeated her friend, American Katie Moon, when she shockingly cleared the bar at 4.90 meters.
But Moon quickly matched Kennedy’s feat, and then, the two pole vaulters missed all three attempts when the bar was raised to 4.95 meters, or 16 feet and 2 3/4 inches.
With such a tie, the title would usually come down to a jump-off — but both pole vaulters had other ideas.
As Moon and Kennedy approached one another with anxious grins, Kennedy clapped her hands together with nervous energy.
After a few tense moments, the two embraced, signaling they had come to an agreement that would make both of them happy.
“I knew it was going to come down to a jump-off, and in my mind, I was like, ‘Please make this bar so you don’t have to go into a jump-off,’ because it’s the end of the competition, emotions are running high, so you just feel a bit fatigued,” Moon, a former Olympic gold medalist, said after the competition.
“Gosh, I love Nina, she’s amazing — so for me, I felt that we had jumped the same throughout the entire competition, we both went out at the same time, so when she was kind of hinting maybe she’d want to share, I was like please, I am exhausted at this point.
“It gets to a point in the pole vault where it’s not just that you’re tired and don’t want to keep going but it’s also you don’t want to get hurt… It was my gut reaction to say yes, we both won, and I’m good with that.”
Kennedy was similarly relieved to share the honor with Moon.
“I didn’t think she’d want to share it, I thought we might have had to keep jumping,” Kennedy told reporters after the final. “But, you know, I kind of looked at her and said: ‘Hey, girl, you maybe want to share this?’
“And the relief on her face – and you could see it on my face – and it was mutual. And yeah, absolutely incredible to share a medal with Katie Moon. You know, we’ve been friends for so long, so it’s super special.”
