Pole vault star visits country athletics championships

Persistence is what has taken Kurtis Marschall to the pinnacle of his sport — and it was a message he was keen to impart to young WA athletes in Kalgoorlie-Boulder at the weekend. A Commonwealth Games 2018 pole vault gold medallist and dual Olympian, Marschall came to the Goldfields to support young athletes during the annual country athletics championships. Hosted by the Eastern Goldfields Little Athletics Centre, the 2022 WA Country Championships saw about 300 young athletes compete in events including high jump, discus, shot put, javelin, hurdles and sprints. Growing up in Adelaide, Marschall said he attended Little Athletics events from a young age and hoped to inspire the young athletes to pursue a career in the sport. “I thought I’d bring myself down here, bring the Olympic kit, wear the green and gold and try and inspire the young guys to hopefully pursue a career in athletics,” he said. “I remember doing it while I was growing up, I started Little Athletics when I was six and then started pole vaulting when I was 13. “Athletics is in my blood and if there’s anything that I can do to give back to the sport like I’ll just jump on it.” Marschall participated in free Come And Try activation sessions and provided one-on-one advice to young athletes before dishing out his autograph to star-struck fans. He said he was impressed with the level of talent on display at the country championships and hopes to see more young athletes pursue the sport. “It’s still a thriving sport in Australia which is awesome to see and so hopefully we can maintain this level of exposure ... and get young superstars coming out through the ranks,” he said. “Often athletics is used as like a side sport to footy or soccer or tennis and you use athletics to train and get better but athletics in itself is an amazing sport and you can take it all the way to the Olympic Games which I did. “You separate the country and metro ... but there’s just as much talent out here as there is in the city and it definitely needs to be shone a light upon.” The 24-year-old said after trying a variety of Little Athletics competitions at a young age he decided to shift his focus to pole vaulting and devoted years to training before attending his first Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. “I did all of the events when I was at Little Athletics but I never really was amazing at one ... I couldn’t quite find my calling,” he said. “Age 13 I got to try pole vaulting and wasn’t really amazing at that either, I just stuck at it and after 12 years made it to the Olympics and Commonwealth Games. “If you devote the hours to this sport it can take you many places and I just decided to stick at it and hopefully I can inspire a couple of these young kids to stick at it and hopefully fill my shoes one day.” Marschall received a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018, achieving 5.70m in the men’s pole vault final. At last year’s Tokyo Olympics, Marschall progressed to the final of the men’s pole vault and in 2019 set both outdoor and indoor personal bests — 5.81m and 5.87m respectively. Marschall said his next competition will be the World Indoor Championships in March in Serbia. In July the athlete plans to travel to the United States to attend the World Athletics Championships followed by the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK in August. Marschall said he also has his eyes set on attending his third Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.