[laughs]

Yeah.

I, I, I do, and I s- I've said this in a few interviews, but I take a lot of pride in being, like, a student of the pole vault and, like, doing... not doing it myself, but being like, "I need to study this.

I need to, like, figure it out." And, um, I guess my coach, like, really allows me to do that.

I'm an athlete that would always take my opinion over my coach's most of the time, or we'd kind of, like, meet in the middle.

But, like, I'm very much, like, I've gotta understand it, I've gotta know it, I've gotta make the final calls.

So, yeah.

Right

When you sort of come back and start competing again, with the success you've had, does it feel like you've even had more success than you even thought when you look back on what it's like when you're actually off the track?

It's a good question.

Like, yes and no.

You know, winning the Olympics in 24 was just, like, the absolute highlight of my career, of my life.

Like, I think it'll go down as one of my favourite days, you know, in my existence.

But kind of coming off that and I really kind of almost wanted to keep that ball rolling into 25.

You know, I think I could have jumped higher in that Olympic final if there were still girls in that final, you know, I could have jumped higher.

I hope it makes sense.

So how do you transition from competing in the Chemist Warehouse Athletics Australia Summer Series into this upcoming international series where there is that bit of a gap?

Yeah, there is.

You know, the Australian domestic, you know, it runs from, what, December through to April, so our summer.

And then, you know, there's a bit of a lull and then we go over to Europe for their summer.

So, um, yeah, the domestic season was really fun this year.

Um, I opened my season in Perth, which I hadn't competed in a year and a half.

I had hammy surgery last year.

[laughs]

But ultimately, isn't a sport about competing to see who's the best? Does handing out too many medals make the achievement less significant? Here with me is Australian pole vaulter Nina Kennedy, who knows exactly how it feels to share a, a podium with a competitor and friend.

Hey, Tegan.

Yeah, I feel like I'm one of the few people that, you know, have been lucky enough to share a medal on the global stage.

So, um, in 2023, the World Athletics Championships, Katie Moon, the American, and myself, we were out in the pole vault slogging it out for, oh, God knows how many hours.

I had jumped two national records, and I jumped two personal bests, so, um, it was a very long competition.

And basically, we got to the end of the competition, so we both had three misses, and normally, like, there's an outright winner because you can decide the winner on countback.

However, Katie and myself, we had the exact same scorecard, like identical.

Nina, how do you access that when you are in an individual sport?