Kurtis Marschall (born 25 April 1997) is an Australian

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

er, bronze medallist at the 2023

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

Early years

Marschall was born on 25 April 1997 in

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. In 2008, as an 11-year-old, Marschall was inspired by

Steve Hooker ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

'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. 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.

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 The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, in the men's pole vault. He missed qualifying for the Olympic pole vault final on countback. 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. 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. 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 Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary on 26 August 2023.

International competitions

¹No mark in the final

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marschall, Kurtis 1997 births Living people Australian male pole vaulters Olympic athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Athletes from Adelaide Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Happy Valley Football Club players Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Australian people Sportsmen from South Australia World Athletics Championships medalists Australian Athletics Championships winners