KURTIS Marschall stood eye-to-eye with his Olympic Games dream and stared it down.
The Happy Valley teenager had already been crowned national pole vault champion after jumping a personal best 5.55m at the Australian athletics titles in Sydney last week.
With the gold medal secure, he had three attempts to clear the Olympic qualifying mark of 5.7m and book his ticket to Rio de Janeiro.
“You’re standing at the back of the runway looking up at the bar, thinking it’s daunting and you’re not going to clear it,” Marschall, 18, says.
“But you think, ‘I’ve got three attempts here to clear the highest bar I’ve ever cleared and execute the best jump I’ve ever done’.
“You just need to clear your mind and do what you’ve done a million times, just that little bit better.”
From: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/messenger/sport/sa-teenager-kurtis-marschall-crowned-national-pole-vault-champion/news-story/102920785a488edb3e4c2519b16c5d06
