Kurtis Marschall (athletics) won gold in the men’s pole vault at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and is aiming to join Steve Hooker and Trevor Bickle as the only Australian men to successfully defend their title at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Marschall achieved a qualifying height of 5.75m at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but surprised when he failed to clear the opening height in the final, missing all three attempts at 5.55m, especially when he is renowned for his consistency. After gaining silver at the 2016 World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Poland, Marschall was the only junior in the Rio 2016 Olympic field and cleared 5.60m, placing 15th and missing the final on countback. He had a strong season in 2017, raising his personal best to 5.73m, finishing 7th at the world championships in London and finishing top six in several high-profile European meets. As a junior, Marschall juggled athletics with Australian football where he was part of West Adelaide’s junior development squad before deciding on a career with the pole vault. After training with Alan Launder, he moved to Perth in 2018 to train under Alex Parnov, but now works with two-time Games silver medallist Paul Burgess.