SA pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall rocked by potential Tokyo Olympics postponement after overcoming rollercoaster 2019
Kurtis Marschall overcame two serious injuries and an enforced change of coach to clinch an Olympics berth in a rollercoaster year. Now the SA pole vaulter is resetting in home lockdown after the Tokyo Games were postponed.
Olympics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Olympics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Two serious injuries, an enforced change of coach and a stunning return to action to clinch an Olympics berth in his first competition for a year.
Kurtis Marschall thought he had seen it all during a challenging 12 months.
Now the SA pole vaulter is in home lockdown and coming to terms with the postponement of the Tokyo Games.
“The happiness element was there (when he qualified),” Commonwealth champion Marschall said.
Watch sport on Kayo. Anywhere. Anytime. Just $25/month, cancel anytime. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
“But it was mostly relief, because 2019 was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions.
“Then I found out that the AOC had decided to pull the pin and boycott (the Games).
“It’s tough for all the athletes now to have to go into isolation and re-work out their training programs.
“But in the whole scheme of things, that’s nothing compared to what the world is going through right now.”
Perth-based Marschall began self-isolation on Tuesday, a day after the WA Institute of Sport training facilities he uses were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The International Olympic Committee then confirmed it would reschedule the Games to next year, as domestic and global sport ground to a halt.
Australian Olympic Committee officials had already announced its athletes would sit out the event, if it went ahead this July-August as originally planned.
It was a cruel blow for Marschall, just a month after his remarkable recovery from the back and shoulder problems which ruled him out of last year’s world championships.
But the Rio Olympian endorsed the AOC’s stance and Tokyo delay.
“Any way we can support and help the wider community in trying to stop this virus, then I’m more than happy to help out,” Marschall, 22, said.
“We’ve just got to batten down the hatches right now and do everything we can to try and not spread it.
“I’m already looking forward to Tokyo 2021.”
Marschall started last year primed to shine on the Diamond League circuit and at September’s worlds, having recorded a new outdoor personal best of 5.81m in Perth last February.
But a nagging shoulder problem, which later turned out to be a supraspinatus tendon insertion tear, led to him putting more pressure on his back when vaulting.
Scans in May revealed an L5 transverse process stress fracture and ended his campaign before it had taken off.
“Originally we had all these big plans for 2019,” said Marschall, who finished seventh at the world championships three years ago.
“But I started feeling a slight bit of discomfort in my back when I was jumping, just before we left to go overseas.
“I was like ‘it’s nothing, but we should just go get an MRI anyway’.
“I was pretty distraught when I heard the news from the doctor.
“But it turns out that if I’d kept going on that path it could’ve led to a more catastrophic injury, so we made the right call in shutting the rest of the season down.”
A month of complete sedentary rest was followed by another four weeks of rehabilitation, before Marschall gradually recommenced light running.
He returned to jumping, initially off a two-step run-up, four months on from his diagnosis.
The physical setbacks coincided with Alex Parnov stepping down as WAIS coach, after an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
Dual-Commonwealth silver medallist Paul Burgess took over as mentor to Marschall, who was enticed west by the highly-regarded program’s elite tutelage and facilities in May 2018.
“It was a bit of a shake-up and a shock to the system.
“But Paul’s a really good coach, he was a good vaulter himself and he knows how to handle the high pressure situations which we find ourselves in.
“I have full trust in the guy and look forward to working with him for the rest of my career.
“Coming over here (Perth) was definitely the right move for me.
“Every coach has multiple careers with lots of different athletes, but athletes only have one.
“You just have to take that leap of faith sometimes.”
Marschall put a testing period behind him to secure what initially appeared a seamless passage to Tokyo at last month’s Perth Track Classic.
He cleared the Olympic qualifying mark on his third attempt, a year after his previous jump at an All Star meet in France.
While Marschall’s Games dreams have been temporarily put on hold, the impressive display emphatically demonstrated his return to form.
“Being able to go out there in my first comp and jump 5.80m is just a bit of reassurance and a bit of relief that it’s all still in there,” the Happy Valley-raised talent said.
“I’ve always had quite a good ability to get myself up for a competition, no matter how training has been going and how my body is.
“Once I had the all clear from the docs that I could fully send it on the day, then I just went into old Kurtis mode.
“It had been such a long time, I had pretty much forgotten what it was like to compete.
“But having all those past experiences still there, I just had to remind myself that I’d done this like a million times before.
“A few jumps didn’t quite go to plan and I cleared a few heights on third attempt.
“But I managed to execute pretty well.”
The three-time national champion was due to compete at this week’s Australian track and field titles before heading overseas.
But the event, like all international track and field competitions, was cancelled because of COVID-19 concerns.
Marschall will remain in home lockdown indefinitely under Athletics Australia instructions, as he bids avoid the virus.
He planned to retain his base fitness with body-weight exercises in the confines of his house, ahead of a fresh build-up towards a rescheduled Olympics.
“You’re obviously going to lose a lot of fitness and strength being at home,” said Marschall, who had already deferred his science degree to focus on the Games.
“But the better you are at maintaining, the better you’ll be able to come out of isolation and start training again.
“There’s nothing really else to work towards this year other than keeping myself healthy.
“I’ve completely changed my focus to prep for the domestic season in 2021 and then for Tokyo later in the year.”