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Kurtis Marschall has emulated the great Steve Hooker, the man who first inspired him to take up pole vaulting, by winning back-to-back Commonwealth gold medals.
Marschall was staring down an early exit when he needed three attempts to get over his second height of 5.50m on Saturday night at Alexander Stadium.
But it was all plain sailing after that as he claimed gold with a vault of 5.60m, added another clearance at 5.70m for good measure and then had three unsuccessful cracks at 5.81m, which would have consigned Hooker’s Commonwealth Games record to the history books.
“It is a pretty good feeling to start filling the shoes of the great man, but there is still a lot of work to do,” said the 25-year-old Marschall.
“I still have to close that gap to the Australian record and I would have liked that Commonwealth Games record off him.
“It’s going to stand for another four years, but you can almost guarantee the next time it is gone.”
Marschall was first attracted to pole vaulting as an 11-year-old when he watched in awe on TV as Hooker won Olympic gold in Beijing.
There have been the inevitable ups and downs in the past few years, including as recently as last month’s world titles in Eugene when he bombed out in qualifying.
“I ripped the e-brake and did a full 180 to try and turn this season around,” he said.
“Eugene just wasn’t acceptable and I was looking forward to redeeming myself, coming here and getting that second Comonwealth Games title.”
It completed a double triumph for coach Paul Burgess’s squad after Nina Kennedy won the women’s vault earlier in the Games.
The minor medals went to English duo Adam Hague (5.55m) and Harry Coppell (5.50m).
Five-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah celebrated Jamaican Independence Day in style by adding the 200m crown to her 100m gold.
Thompson-Herah clocked 22.02 seconds, while Australian Ella Connolly was sixth in 23.21.
Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo also completed a prestigious double, surging home to win the 5000m in 13:08.08, having previously won the 10,000m title.
Australians Jack Rayner and Matt Ramsden were eighth and 10th.
National record holder Catriona Bisset (1:59.41) was fifth in a high-quality women’s 800m final won by Mary Moraa in 1:57.07.
The Kenyan claimed the victory in a most unusual fashion, running the fastest first and last 200m splits, while being slowest in the field for the middle 400m.
England’s world and Olympics silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson was second and Scotland’s Laura Muir was third.
Canada’s Camryn Rogers destroyed the field in the women’s hammer throw, claiming gold with 74.08m.
Australian Alex Hulley was sixth with 66.26m, having finished second four years ago on the Gold Coast.
AUSTRALIAN BACK-TO-BACK COMMONWEALTH POLE VAULT GOLD MEDALLISTS
Men
Trevor Bickle – 1962 and 1966
Steve Hooker – 2006 and 2010
Kurtis Marschall – 2018 and 2022
Women
Alana Boyd – 2010 and 2014
