How do you compete at the Olympics when you know gold is an impossibility? That's what faced Kurtis Marschall in the men's pole vault final, against the incredible Mondo Duplantis — arguably the most dominant athlete alive.
Armand Duplantis rewrites pole vault history at Paris Olympics , as Kurtis Marschall misses out in the global battle for silverTune into the ABC's live radio coverage of the Games
What an odd position that leaves Marschall in. Ranked the fifth best in the world, he is in the presence of greatness but not realistically able to touch it.The first step for Marschall was to clear a bar at the Olympics, something he was unable to do in Tokyo. His "no-heighter" at his first Olympics stayed with him than longer than he would have liked, initially dragging him down but eventually lighting a fire.
It may not surprise you to learn his father was a pole vaulter and his mother a heptathlete. His two older brothers were pole vaulters, as was his younger sister. He took to it quickly, but didn't commit fully until he was 16 at which point he gave up playing Aussie rules and went all in on pole vault.
His first jump was close, but his trail arm clipped the bar on the way down. The second was less convincing.By the time he took his position, with Marschall and Kendricks leading the cheer squad just to his left, the collective will of 75,000 people could have lifted him over that bar even if the pole didn't.The bar was not so much as brushed, and the roof came off the Stade de France.There are no limits on what Duplantis's future could hold.
Olympic Games Paris Olympics Athletics Pole Vault Kurtis Marschall Mondo Duplantis
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