Kurtis Marschall (born 25 April 1997) is an Australian pole vaulter, bronze medalist at the 2023 and 2025 World Athletics Championships.
Early years Marschall was born on 25 April 1997 in North Adelaide, South Australia.
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.
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 in Rio de Janeiro, 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 three attempts at his opening height of 5.55m.
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games he claimed gold for Australia with a winning jump of 5.70 metres.
His personal best in the event is 6.00 metres, set at the 2026 edition of the All Star Perche. This jump made him the fourth Australian to clear the six metre mark. Later in 2026 Marschall was the first person in three years to beat Armand Duplantis when he won Diamond League in Stockholm.
International competitions Representing 2014World Junior ChampionshipsEugene, United States10th (q)5.00 m2016World U20 ChampionshipsBydgoszcz, Poland2nd5.55 mOlympic GamesRio de Janeiro, Brazil15th (q)5.60 m2017World ChampionshipsLondon, United Kingdom7th5.65 m2018World Indoor ChampionshipsBirmingham, United Kingdom4th5.80 mCommonwealth GamesGold Coast, Australia1st5.70 m2021Olympic GamesTokyo, Japan5th (q)5.75 m12022World Indoor ChampionshipsBelgrade, Serbia7th5.75 mWorld ChampionshipsEugene, United States24th (q)5.50 m2023World ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary3rd5.95 m2024World Indoor ChampionshipsGlasgow, United Kingdom5th5.75 mOlympic GamesParis, France6th5.85 m2025 World Indoor ChampionshipsNanjing, China 5th 5.80 m World ChampionshipsTokyo, Japan 3rd 5.95 m2026World Indoor ChampionshipsToruń, Poland 3rd6.00 mCommonwealth GamesGlasgow, United Kingdom1st5.85 mWorld Ultimate ChampionshipBudapest, Hungary4th5.95 m 1No mark in the final
References
External links
Kurtis Marschall at Australian Athletics Kurtis Marschall at Australian Athletics Historical Results
Kurtis Marschall at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics (archived, alternate link)