Kurtis Marschall (athletics) won consecutive men’s pole vault gold medals at the Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games with identical heights of 5.70m, joining Steve Hooker and Trevor Bickle as the only Australian men to successfully defend the title. The South Australian-born athlete followed with a bronze medal at the Budapest 2023 world championships equalling his personal best 5.95m, his first medal at global level.

As a junior, Marschall juggled athletics with Australian football where he was part of West Adelaide’s junior development squad before deciding on pole vault, making his international debut at the world under-20 championships in Eugene in 2014. After gaining silver at the world under-20 championships in Poland two years later, Marschall was the only junior in the Rio 2016 Olympic field where he cleared 5.60m, placing 15th but missing the final on countback. He failed to clear the opening height in the final at his second Olympics in Tokyo before jumping 5.85m to finish 6th in Paris in 2024.

Marschall has trained in Perth since 2018, initially under Alex Parnov, but now trains with two-time Commonwealth Games silver medallist Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick.