Kurtis Marschall takes seventh place in pole vault final at IAAF World Athletics Championships

Aussies were crashing all around, but 20-year-old pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall stood tall to finish seventh in his first world championship final.

Australia's Kurtis Marschall competes in the final of the men's pole vault in London. Photo: AFP

Australian athletes were crashing all around, but 20-year-old pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall stood tall to finish seventh in his first world championship final in London last night.

Marschall, the world junior silver medallist last year, has graduated to the senior ranks with flying colours.

He cleared 5.65m last night and narrowly missed a personal best clearance of 5.75m, scraping the bar with his chest on the way down on his second attempt.

“Oh, it was so close,’’ he agonised later.

American Sam Kendricks, the only man to clear six metres this year, went on to win his first world title with a silky clearance of 5.95m.

Australia's Kurtis Marschall in action in the men's pole vault final. Photo: AP

Kendricks, 24, curled his body around the bar like a cat, forcing world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie to raise the bar to 6.01m in a last desperate attempt to snatch victory. He missed and Kendricks ran up onto the mats to hug him when he realised he had won.

Poland’s Piotr Lisek took the silver medal on a countback from Lavillenie after both cleared 5.89m.

Marschall was the youngest man in the top eight by three years and soaked up the experience of performing in front of a crowd of 55,000 people.

“Coming seventh in the world is pretty up there,’’ he said.

“I’m not just one of the participants any more, I’m not a spectator out there. I know I can mix it with the big dogs and if I had cleared 75 that would have placed me top six in the world and that would have been insane.’’

“I gave every jump my all.’’

Kelsey-Lee Roberts prepares to throw. Photo: Getty Images

Canberra javelin-thrower Kelsey-Lee Roberts found the going tougher in her first world championships final, finishing tenth with a best of 60.76m.

Roberts, 25, had hoped to improve on her qualifying distance of 63.70m but could not find her rhythm last night and knew she had missed a big opportunity.

“I’m happy to make the final, that’s a plus, but to not make the top-eight is very disappointing,’’ she said.

“It’s not the result I was looking for. I’ve left some numbers that should have been on the board out there tonight.’’

Roberts said she would regroup and target the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast next April.

“I’ll take away some confidences from this season and build from there,’’ she said.

“There are bigger and better things to come.’’

Czech dual Olympic gold medallist Barbora Spotakova, 36, won her second world title, ten years after her first, with a best throw of 66.76m.

China’s Li Lingwei set a personal best of 66.25m to take the silver ahead of her teammate Lyu Huihui (65.26m)

Schoolgirl Riley Day failed to progress past the heats of the 200m. Photo: Getty Images

In the women’s 200m heats, neither of Australia’s competitors progressed to the final.

Schoolgirl Riley Day, who was given a late call-up for the world titles after winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games last month, finished seventh (23.77sec) in her heat and confessed that she had struggled to stay up after peaking for the youth event.

“My legs were just shaking before the race and I was thinking “Am I actually out here?”,’’she said.

“The time wasn’t fantastic but I don’t care, my main competition was the Commies (Commonwealth Youth Games). This was an amazing experience and I feel completely honoured to be here as a 17-year-old.’’

Day, from Beaudesert in rural Queensland, is the youngest Australian ever to compete at the world titles in an individual event.

She was drawn to run inside the reigning world champion Dafne Schippers and said she found it hard to concentrate on her own lane.

“But I got to run against one of the fastest women in the world — awesome,’’ she said..

“I did find myself looking at her a little bit, which is my own fault for getting distracted but I’m here for the experience. I knew I wasn’t going to be the best. I’m here and I’m happy with how I went.’’

“I didn’t really know what to do in the call room and stuff so I was just following everyone else. It’s a lot different to juniors, it’s a completely different atmosphere with 60,000 people, such a difference but so awesome.’’

There was disappointment for Olympic semi-finalist Ella Nelson, who showed none of her outstanding form from Rio, running almost 1.5 seconds slower (24.02sec) to be eliminated.

On Twitter she said the year had been “tough on so many levels’’ but vowed to bounce back next year.

So.. I fell down the stairs of the mixed zone. And if that doesn't sum up 2017 for me 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

— Ella Nelson (@ellanelson200) August 8, 2017

But seriously, this year was tough on so many levels. Cannot wait to bounce back bigger, better, (and most importantly) FASTER next yr ❤

— Ella Nelson (@ellanelson200) August 8, 2017