World champion pole vaulter Nina Kennedy has revealed she’s been recovering from a stress fracture in her back just months out from the Paris Olympic Games.
Kennedy is one of Australia’s best hopes for gold in the athletics when she takes to the track at this year’s Olympic Games, having shared gold alongside American Katie Moon at the world championships in Budapest last August.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist has overcome a serious quad injury that derailed her Olympics debut at Tokyo in 2021 before she crashed out in qualifying.
Kennedy then began her 2023 campaign with a back stress fracture, but she overcame it to beat her own Australian record twice to jump an incredible 4.90m to win the world title alongside reigning Olympic gold medallist Moon.
The 26-year-old from Busselton has thrown doubt over her promising campaign for Paris, revealing her injury on social media on Thursday.
“So after the season finished last year in September – we scanned my back and found a stress fracture. I had this exact injury at the same time a year before,” Kennedy revealed.
“After two months of sitting on my a.. (hence no training content), I’ve started building back up slowly and things are going well.
“Any who, next week I get to jump for the first time.”
Kennedy also revealed she only returned to running in December and it is unclear how her preparation will be affected, with the Olympic Games to begin in July.