Kennedy Set for Diamond League Debut

Published On: 5 July 2018

Nina Kennedy will make her long awaited Diamond League debut this evening at the IAAF competition meet in Lausanne.

The Perth pole vault star will go head to head with the best jumpers in the world in a field that boasts the current Olympic and world champion Katerina Stefanidi, 5.00m jumper Sandi Morris and a further six athletes with a higher personal best than Kennedy.

The Diamond League invitation represents another career milestone for Kennedy in a year that has already seen the 21 year-old elevate her PB to 4.71m, win a first national championship title and take a bronze medal from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

The competition comes a day after her training partner Kurtis Marschall took equal third place in an exhibition pole vault competition on the banks of Lake Geneva in down-town Lausanne.

The men’s competition – whilst part of the Lausanne Diamond League schedule – is not an official rankings event and is hosted in the picturesque setting in the Swiss city a day before the main track and field program is contested in the Stade de la Pontaise.

Marschall produced his best performance of the tour so far, clearing 5.77m for equal third place with current world lead Sam Kendricks of the USA.

The Commonwealth champion was perfect at 5.46m, 5.60m, 5.70m and 5.77m but couldn’t get over at 5.84m which would have been a new personal best.

The meet was won by French legend Renaud Lavillenie – who jumped 5.91m.