LISTEN LIVE TO GOLD SPORT:
Hamish Kerr leaps to history with thrilling high jump gold - Kris Shannon in Paris
Arms outstretched, gliding across the grass inside Stade de France, Hamish
Kerr reached midfield before bowing to the crowd and collapsing on his back.
It seemed the only appropriate response to winning an absorbing, exhausting and historic high jump final.
Kerr has become the first New Zealander to leap onto an Olympic podium in the famed event, edging a jump-off with American Shelby McEwen after the pair struggled to be separated.
Victory completed the most glittering day in this country’s Olympic history, following earlier gold medals for Dame Lisa Carrington in the K1 500 and Lydia Ko at Le Golf National.
The unique triple success took the Kiwi team’s tally to nine gold medals in Paris, surpassing the previous best of eight at Los Angeles 1984. Kerr’s might have been the most dramatic of the lot.
After he and McEwen had earlier been the only athletes to clear 2.36m – equalling Kerr’s personal best – neither man could manage the extra two centimetres required to seize gold.
In Tokyo, where Kerr finished 10th in his Olympic debut, the high jump title was memorably shared by Italian Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim, the pair declining a jump-off in favour of dual gold medals.
Read the full report here.
Hear it as it happens with live commentary of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on GOLD SPORT & iHeartRadio, plus comprehensive coverage on Newstalk ZB.
