Tokyo Olympics 2021: Pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall reveals how face mask saved him from Covid

He became the face for Covid fears grippingTokyo when exposed to an infected competitor earlier this week. Now, a healthy Kurtis Marschall reveals how close his Olympics came to being over.

Wearing a face mask saved Australian pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall from being kicked out of the Games.

Marschall found himself in the middle of a Covid lockdown on Thursday after he was declared a close contact of American vaulter Sam Kendricks who had tested positive.

The entire track and field team was forced into a three-hour lockdown with Marschall, coach Paul Burgess and female vaulter Nina Kennedy immediately taken away from the village.

He has spent the past 48 hours in isolation and despite all the drama he cleared 5.75m when it mattered to qualify for Tuesday night‘s Olympic final.

Nina Kennedy and Kurtis Marschall were forced out of the athlete's village after being a close contact with Sam Kendricks. Picture: Instagram

Marschall revealed he‘d embraced Kendricks at the warm-up track given the pair, who are friends, hadn’t seen each other for a couple of years.

“I gave him a handshake and he wasn‘t wearing a mask,” Marschall said. ”I was wearing a mask and of course I was so stoked to see him, excited to see him.

“I hadn‘t seen him for years so we embraced and it turns out the bloody idiot had Covid.”

Marschall, .. admitted he was “absolutely stressing” when news of Kendricks‘ positive test broke and he self-reported their meeting to team officials.

Kurtis Marschall. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Sam Kendricks. Picture: AFP

“It was like an hour where I was absolutely stressing,” he said. ”My Games could have essentially been over if I hadn‘t have been vaccinated and if I wasn’t wearing a mask.

“Luckily I was and luckily protocols kept me in the Games. I‘m just stoked to be here.”

The WA-based pole vaulter said he was quickly able to “get his head straight” about his new circumstances ahead of Saturday morning‘s qualifying.

“The hotel they put me up at is pretty nice and I managed to get some sleep,” Marschall said.

“I got off my feet and almost distancing myself from the social aspect of the village has been a good thing for me.”

He also managed to provide himself with more drama in the qualifying after missing his opening two attempts at 5.65m with another slip-up meaning he was out of the Games.

Several of the other medal hopes also had scares including world record holder Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis.

“At first I thought he (Duplantis) was a mystical being but then he missed the first attempt at 5.50 and I was like ‘He’s human’,” Marschall said.

“And then he just smoked the next few heights. He is amazing and I am not going to go and beat him in the final, it‘s a race for second.”