SA teenager Kurtis Marschall crowned national pole vault champion

SA POLE vault sensation Kurtis Marschall has six competitions left to book his ticket to the Rio Olympics after being crowned national champion last week.

7/4/16.SA pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall - 18yrs (Happy Valley) won gold at the national championships in Sydney over the weekend. He is now in the running for the Rio Olympics if he can pass the qualifying mark over the next two months. Kurtis at Port Noarlunga beach. Pic: Keryn Stevens

KURTIS Marschall stood eye-to-eye with his Olympic Games dream and stared it down.

The Happy Valley teenager had already been crowned national pole vault champion after jumping a personal best 5.55m at the Australian athletics titles in Sydney last week.

With the gold medal secure, he had three attempts to clear the Olympic qualifying mark of 5.7m and book his ticket to Rio de Janeiro.

“You’re standing at the back of the runway looking up at the bar, thinking it’s daunting and you’re not going to clear it,” Marschall, 18, says.

“But you think, ‘I’ve got three attempts here to clear the highest bar I’ve ever cleared and execute the best jump I’ve ever done’.

“You just need to clear your mind and do what you’ve done a million times, just that little bit better.”

Marschall failed to pass the qualifying height, despite two promising jumps.

But his Olympic goal remains alive.

He has six competitions to clear the mark before the July 11 cut-off.

“To jump a PB at the national championships is the best thing you could ask for,” says Marschall, who set a previous PB of 5.5m last month to win the national junior title.

“I’m absolutely over the moon that I managed to get all of my training together and get my head in the right space at the exact right time.

“I had two really close attempts which my coach was stoked with and gives me a bit of a sniff of what it takes to jump that high.”

Kurtis Marschall on his way to winning the national pole vault title in Sydney last week. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Marschall will represent Australia at the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, from July 19.

He will use a series of preparatory events to again attempt the Olympic qualifying mark.

The Western Districts Athletics Club member will jump at three local competitions next month before a meet in Townsville in June.

Lead-up contests in Germany and Poland will provide his final opportunities to secure an Olympic berth.

“I think I’ve got it (the qualifying mark) in me in the future,” the former West Adelaide junior footballer says.

“But if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen.

“My main goal is to do well at the world juniors.

“If I can get the Olympic qualifying (mark) as well and manage to go there as an 18 year old that would be absolutely insane.”

There is still a slim chance Marschall might travel to Rio if he fails to pass 5.7m and too few athletes record the qualifying height worldwide.

His long-term aim is to fill the void of Australian great and 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medallist Steve Hooker who retired from pole vaulting in 2014.

“I always wanted to make the Olympics, but I never thought it would be this early or for pole vaulting.

“I’m stoked that I’m getting closer and I’m confident that I can get it in the next couple of months.”