BUDAPEST: American Katie Moon and Australia's Nina Kennedy decided to share the gold medal in a dramatic women's pole vault final at the World Athletics Championships on Wednesday (Aug 23).
The two women cleared 4.90 metres in an event that stretched two hours and 10 minutes, but both missed on all three attempts at 4.95 and decided to share the victory rather than go to a jump-off.
It was the second consecutive world title for Moon, who also won Olympic gold in Tokyo. Armed with a personal best of 4.95 and a season's best of 4.90, the 32-year-old Moon appeared to be the favourite.
But Kennedy had other ideas. She surpassed the Australian record and her own personal best by eight centimetres when she sailed over 4.90, and then held back tears as she looked up at the steady bar in joyful disbelief.
The two chatted briefly to decide the outcome, then embraced, conjuring memories of the Tokyo Olympics where good friends and rivals Mutaz Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy opted to share men's high jump gold.
"I am a big softie, it is so beautiful, it really displays what our sport is about," Britain's 2012 Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill said on the BBC. "Two epic performances and they've both come away with that gold medal."
Wilma Murto of Finland tied her season's best of 4.80 for bronze, missing all three of her attempts at 4.85. The 25-year-old became the first Finnish woman to win a Diamond League title when she beat Moon at the London event on July 23.
The event captivated the National Athletics Centre crowd who - prompted by an ominous rhythmic thumping over the sound system when each jumper stepped up to the runway - clapped in time.