ELITE POLE VAULTERS SET TO SOAR IN BUNBURY AT THE WA COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

This weekend will see the 2021 WA Country Championships contested at the Bunbury Regional Athletics Arena, with the support of the City of Bunbury and the Bunbury Little Athletics Centre. The event will also play host to the inaugural regional Go for 2&5 competition, headlined by a class field in the Pole Vault through the support of the Western Australian Institute of Sport Pole Vault program.

Perth-based pole vaulters will head to WA’s southwest to compete on Saturday at 2.00pm, as part of the three-day competition. Commonwealth Games medallists Nina Kennedy and Kurtis Marschall will be looking to continue the fine form that saw them both set Olympic qualification performances at last week’s Go for 2&5 competition at the WA Athletics Stadium. Nina will enter the competition with a brand-new personal best of 4.75m, just shy of the WA State Record of 4.76cm and the Australian Record of 4.81m, both held by Alana Boyd.

“Ticking off the Olympic qualification standard was the first goal, so now I would absolutely love to jump the Australian Record this season,” Nina said of her recent performances.

Nina and Kurtis will be joined by Olympian Elizaveta Parnova, Commonwealth Games representative Angus Armstrong and World Junior representative Lauren Hyde-Cooling, providing a great opportunity for local athletics fans to catch all the action live and meet and greet the athletes over the weekend.

Despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic, the WA contingent have demonstrated excellent early-season form and the competition in Bunbury provides an opportunity to compete at a different stadium, amidst the current travel restrictions.

“The biggest changes to the preparation leading up to Tokyo we're going to have to make is not having the ease to travel overseas and compete against some really strong vaulters. Instead, we are staying in Australia and competing against the smaller number of high-quality jumpers we have here,” said Nina.

The WA Country Championships commence this Friday from 3.00pm, with the official Opening Ceremony taking place on Saturday morning at 9.30am. Competition will continue across Saturday (8.00am – 5.30pm) and Sunday (8.00am-1.30pm) at Bunbury Regional Athletics Arena. Entry for spectators is free.

We will be hosting a short Q&A session with the Pole Vault athletes as they finish their competition, with an opportunity for spectators to meet them in our signing tent following the competition. Kurtis Marschall and Angus Armstrong will also be joining us at the track on Sunday from 10.30am-12.00pm for another ‘meet and greet’ opportunity.