After matching each other in normal rounds, two Olympic pole vaulters continued to battle it out over three tiebreaker rounds to see who would get gold at the World Athletics Championships.

However, the tiebreakers proved inconclusive, with both Australia's Nina Kennedy and American Katie Moon both making it over the 4.90 meter bar, but failing to get over the 4.95 meter one.

So with a kiss and a hug, the two athletes and longtime friends decided to share the gold medal, a choice which in such circumstances can be made if there's a dead heat between two competitors.

"I didn't think she'd want to share it, I thought we might have had to keep jumping," Kennedy said afterwards, according to Olympics.com. "But, you know, I kind of looked at her and said, 'Hey, girl, you maybe wanna share this?'"

"And the relief on her face - and you could see it on my face - and it was mutual. And yeah, absolutely incredible to share a medal with Katie Moon. You know, we've been friends for so long so it's super special."

Moon agreed, noting that it had been a long battle and that for four jumps they had done basically the same thing.

The medal is Moon's second world championship gold and Kennedy's first.

The last time a gold medal was split was at the Tokyo Olympics, where Qatar's Mutaz Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi split the gold medal for the men's high jump final.

WATCH the back and forth and ultimate decision below…

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