If you wanted to organise chaos, Kurtis Marschall would be a good first call. Then dial his coach Declan Carruthers and it would almost be guaranteed, after the duo just aced a year that most would never attempt.
There is no chaos to organise today though, as the pair lounge on a beach in Sardinia. All that is left to do is soak in their success, which right now is being channelled through rays of the Italian sun.
Marschall disturbs the peace with a jab at his best mate and coach, who knows better than to return serve.
“We had to come here because Dec reckons he’s Italian, even though he’s never been to Italy,” he says.
Order restored. Fifteen-love, but the day is young.
The pole vaulter activates media-mode, which exists almost entirely in his head, winding back the clock nine months – 22 competitions.
“The plan was to do as many competitions as possible; to earn as much money as possible,” Marschall says.
“I wanted to capitalise on being in the best shape of my life and having a coach who could travel with me wherever we needed to go, whenever we needed to go.”
Two Diamond League wins, Commonwealth Games gold and 15 podiums later – Marschall is counting his dollars. At 29-years-old, they will be invested responsibly across his upcoming wedding and a steady flow of flat whites.
His only fault in an otherwise flawless year was a no-height at the Australian Championships, which is now a distant memory.
“Sam Kendricks told me that if you are calculating your average, you should always take out your best jump and your worst jump of the season,” Marschall says.
“That leaves me with 5.87m, which is solid.”
On February 22 in Clermont-Ferrand, Marschall became the 31st man in history to clear six metres in the event. He would repeat the feat to win World Indoor bronze a month later, and once more outdoors in July.
The catalyst? Carruthers.
The former pole vaulter is no stranger to bringing out Marschall’s best, previously demonstrated by his 41-7 losing record against him, but now proven in a world-beating partnership.
“People say he doesn’t have the coaching years and experience, but it’s not even about that,” Marschall says.
“Dec coaches with his heart and everything he knows about me is everything that I need at this point in my career.
“He sits back, absorbs the jump, scrolls through the footage and then gives the feedback. I always run over with all these ideas and he’s just like chill dude.”
Formerly coached by Paul Burgess who led Marschall to three global medals, the fresh start has launched his career to new heights, riding the wave of their never stressed mantra.
They were never less stressed than the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where Marschall won his third consecutive title with a new Games record of 5.85m to secure a limited-edition Longines watch.
“When we are on the golf course we give each other as much shit as possible, but on the track it’s strictly business,” Marschall says.
“You want someone to be able to travel well with and he’s such a good traveller. You don’t want someone who freaks out when plans change on the fly.
“We have learned to communicate where we both end up landing on the same solution, despite taking different paths to get there.”
Their biggest scalp of 2026 came at the Stockholm Diamond League, where they took down hometown hero, Olympic champion and world record holder Mondo Duplantis with Marschall’s first ever win on the circuit.
He would win again days later in Oslo and receive nothing but love from the pole vault fraternity, who piled back into the private jet bound for their next competition, golf course or music studio as the current rockstars of global athletics.
“I’m lucky enough to be part of the Mondo era. He doesn’t travel in anything less than private so the boys may as well jump in, right?” Marschall says.
“Mondo is the best at golf as well, which is annoying! But I’d put myself second. Manolo [Karalis] is way down the list, that dude needs to work on his game for sure.”
Finishing the year with third place in the Diamond League Final and fourth place at the World Athletics Ultimate Championships, the brains trust has already started hatching plans for next season with an emphasis on periodisation – peaking when it counts.
And nothing will count more than the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing and Steve Hooker’s 6.06m Australian record.
“I’m a championship guy. I love performing on the international stage and going to the major in the best shape possible to lay it all on the line,” Marschall says.
“I believe the Australian record is in me and I want to knock it off as early as possible, just like we did with six metres this year.”
By now the Italian sun has burnt holes in whatever media-mode Marschall had managed to activate, with momentum swinging between insight and nonsense.
But with the finish line in sight, Marschall closes with a winner as he attempts to lure his great mate Mondo down under in 2027 as part of his grand plan for a specialist pole vault competition in Perth.
“We’ll play some golf, we’ll go to Rotto [Rottnest Island] and I’ll show him what real coffee is,” he says.
“I can’t wait to show him proper flat white culture.”
Game, set, match – Marschall.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 1/10/2026
