WORKHORSE MARSCHALL MASTERS COMEBACK FOR PARIS

Kurtis Marschall will add three-time Olympian to his growing athletics resume as he looks to once again disrupt the Men’s podium at a world major. 

Growing in ability, the man from South Australia returns to the Olympic Stadium with another Commonwealth Games gold medal and a World Championship bronze medal under his belt. 

Marschall became Australia's fifth World Championship medallist in pole vault and the first Australian male athlete to step up onto the podium since long jumper Fabrice Lapierre claimed a silver in 2015.

After sustaining an ankle injury at the Australian National Championships earlier this year, Marshall has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to make yet another inspiring comeback at this year’s games. 

With less than a month until the Olympics, Marschall delivered a solid first performance returning from injury, clearing 5.75m at the Paris Diamond League, and going on to back it up a week later with 5.83m at the International Pole Vault meeting in Germany where he secured first place. 

“Everything is shaping up nicely, I was able to do a competition last weekend and am pretty stoked to just know the body is holding up nicely after my injury in April, so feeling good and feeling confident,” Marschall said. 

It hasn’t been a smooth run for the two-time Commonwealth Games Champion, however with lessons learned in Tokyo and a positive mindset, Marschall has been able to continuously tackle any challenge presented to him. 

“Being an elite athlete comes with its ups and downs and if you get bogged down and let it affect you too much it’s not going to be good for anything.”

“I am going into this year and every year super positive knowing I can do it when it counts, I can do it when I am feeling down and even if the body isn’t behaving as I would hope, we can still pull it out on the day.” 

When things didn’t quite go to plan in Tokyo, Marschall and his team got straight to work, improving his run-up speed from 9.3m/s to 9.6m/s and refining his gym programming which produced immediate results. 

In 2023, Marschall’s hard work paid off when he set a new personal best of 5.95m in France before going on to claim bronze at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest late last year.  

“We have fully turned the tables since Tokyo, I think that was a wake-up call for me and we kind of just kicked ourselves into gear and said you know like that’s not happening again, let's turn this ship around and get back on course.”

The success wasn’t created alone, with Marschall’s support system working in unison to keep him focused and help him perform at his best. Looking to replicate what went well in 2023, Marschall will be joined in Paris by his coach and six-meter man, Paul Burgess and training partner, Nina Kennedy. 

“Having everyone on my team here all supporting me and working together is essential and that’s what we had last year when everything worked so well so having the whole team over here with me putting all their creative minds together and having a 6-metre guy in my corner is essentially what's going to help me do that and help me achieve my maximum come Paris.”

“It is about going out there and enjoying ourselves and having the team around us and knowing that we have so much support behind us, it makes us so much more relaxed when we go out on the stage and that’s when we perform best.”

Time away from the international circuit means Marschall enters Paris as the element of surprise for the men’s field. 

“It is kind of a blessing in disguise that this ankle has happened because it has put me off the cards everyone has counted me out, which is exactly what I want people to think.”

“I am going into it a little bit more relaxed, and it is good going into it knowing that anything can happen, I have been there before, and we will just see what we can do.”

Kurtis Marschall will pull on the green and gold for the third time on the Olympic stage in the qualifying round of the Men’s Pole Vault at 4:10 pm on the 3rd of August WST. 

To follow Kurtis’s Olympic journey and stay up to date with daily Olympic Schedules, results and updates follow the Athletics West Facebook and Instagram Pages. 

To watch all the athletes in action at the Paris Olympics, head to 9NOW. 

For more information on how you can get involved in athletics, contact Athletics West on 08 6272 0480 or email us at admin@athleticswest.com.au. 

By Imogen McDonald, Athletics West

Posted 23 July 2024