KURTIS MARSCHALL

ATHLETICS

Australia may have found their next Steve Hooker, and by the end of these Games everyone will have heard of him. Adelaide pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall’s dramatic rise to the Olympic team for Rio has shown no signs of slowing and he will head to the Gold Coast as one of the favourites for gold. Marshall, 20, jumped 5.60m to miss the Olympic final on a countback in Rio, but hit back the following season to finish seventh in last year’s world titles. He went to another level in January with a PB of 5.80m in Perth and backed up with 5.80m at the indoor world champs in March. Hooker announced himself with gold at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006 and was Olympic champion two years later. There is no reason Marschall can’t follow in his footsteps.