Kurtis Marschall

Kurtis Marschall
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (1997-04-25) 25 April 1997 (age 27)
Adelaide, SA, Australia
Sport
CountryAustralia
SportTrack and field athletics
EventPole vault
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals5.60m
World finals5.55 m
Personal best5.95m
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Australia
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Budapest Pole vault
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast Pole vault
Gold medal – first place 2022 Birmingham Pole vault
World Athletics U20 Championships
Silver medal – second place 2016 Bydgoszcz Pole vault

Kurtis Marschall (born 25 April 1997) is an Australian pole vaulter, bronze medallist at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Early years

Marschall was born on 25 April 1997 in North Adelaide, South Australia.[1]

In 2008, as an 11-year-old, Marschall was inspired by Steve Hooker's gold medal win at the Olympic Games in Beijing. A year later he attended a ‘come-and-try' day in Adelaide where he jumped two metres.[2]

Marschall started training with Alan Launder and 4 years later was clearing five metres. Launder died in 2014 and Kym Simons coached him for the next few years. Not long after, Marschall made his international debut at the World U20 Championships.[2]

Achievements

in 2016 in Germany, ahead of his second World U20 Championships appearance, Marschall cleared 5.70 m, locking up Olympic qualification. It was the highest vault by a junior in the world for three years. He then competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, in the men's pole vault.[3] He missed qualifying for the Olympic pole vault final on countback.[2]

In 2017 he was 11th in the final at the World Championships. At the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games the following year he claimed gold for Australia. Marschall was now a 5.86m vaulter and top-5 in the Diamond Leagues.[2]

He qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In his men's pole vault group he came 2nd with a leap of 5.75m which qualified him for the final. In the final he did not register a clearance after dislodging the bar with all 3 attempts at his opening height of 5.55m.[4]

At the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games he claimed gold for Australia with a winning jump of 5.70 metres.

His personal best in the event is 5.95 metres, set in Sotteville, France on 7 July 2023 and equalled in the final at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on 26 August 2023.

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Notes
Representing  Australia
2014 World Junior Championships Eugene, United States 10th (q) 5.00 m
2016 World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 2nd 5.55 m
Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 15th (q) 5.60 m
2017 World Championships London, United Kingdom 7th 5.65 m
2018 World Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 4th 5.80 m
Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 1st 5.70 m
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 5th (q) 5.75 m1
2022 World Indoor Championships Belgrade, Serbia 7th 5.75 m
World Championships Eugene, United States 24th (q) 5.50 m
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 3rd 5.95 m
2024 World Indoor Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom 5th 5.75 m
Olympic Games Paris, France 6th 5.85 m

1No mark in the final

References

  1. ^ "Kurtis Marschall". olympedia.org. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "Kurtis Marschall". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Kurtis Marschall". rio2016.com. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  4. ^ Salvado, John (3 August 2021). "Marschall last in Olympic pole vault final". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 5 October 2021.