World Champs A-Qualifier for Nina Kennedy

Published On: 27 February 2017

Pole vaulter Nina Kennedy has starred at the weekend WA State Athletics Championships after earning herself an A-Qualifier for the 2017 IAAF World Championships.

Fresh from competing at the Nitro Athletics carnival earlier in the month Kennedy cleared a season’s best height of 4.55m to win state bragging rights and take a significant step towards selection for the Australian Flame team to contest the world titles at the London Olympic Stadium next July.

With an A-Qualifier in her back pocket, Kennedy can now concentrate on the National Championships where another strong performance will book her place.

‘It’s a relief to get it. I knew I could do it before Nationals, so it’s great to see all the hard work payoff,” she said via the  Athletics WA website.

“It takes away a bit of the pressure, so now I’m just excited to get out there [at Nationals] and see what happens.’ she added.

Fellow vaulter Liz Parnov stepped up her summer campaign producing some impressive jumps to finish second on 4.40m.

In the men’s pole vault, WA training partners Declan Carruthers and Stephen Clough both cleared 5.30m, with the former claiming the state title on countback.

Rio Olympian Kurtis Marshall (South Australia) travelled to compete in Perth but exited at 5.40m having earlier cleared 5.20m, whilst Japanese visitor Ejima Masaki was the only man to negotiate 5.40m to win the pole vault competition.

Matt Ramsden continued his rapid rise in the men’s 1500m taking the state title, whilst Commonwealth Games representative Lyndsay Pekin won gold in the women’s 400m.

Sarah Edmiston boosted her world championships hopes by throwing a qualifying mark in the women’s para-discuss to earn a state championship in the process, whist Chris Barty helped himself to an Australian record in the seated javelin throw (F34), registering a new best of 19.50m.

Photo: Athletics WA