Undeterred,the 25-year-old West Australian then cleared 4.60m. Then she hit a rhythm and cleared 4.70m at her first effort,followed by 4.80m at her first try,and she was right among the medals.
Her personal best was 4.82,so to vault into the medals she would need to go higher than she had ever been. She pushed the bar up to 4.85m and missed twice. With her third attempt,she went for broke and pushed the bar to 4.90m. If she cleared that she’d be in the gold medal place.
She missed but was able to content herself with bronze - the first Australian medal at these championships - and left Americans Katie Nageotte and Sandi Morris battling for gold.
“I was so nervous. I cleared my opening height on my third attempt and gave my coach (Paul Burgess) and myself a close heart attack,but I came through,” Kennedy said following the event.
“Going into this,your brain goes to every possibility before you reach the track. You go to the worst-case scenario,which is no-heighting in the final,and the best case,which is clearing it. I stuck to what I know,which is following my cues,and I cleared it.