As excitement builds around the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, there have been some massive results for the Australians overnight at the Gyulai Memorial Meet in Budapest, Hungary.
Kurtis Marschall’s (WA, Declan Carruthers) impressive season continued, jumping 6.00m, equaling his personal best and his highest jump outdoors.
He finished second to Swedish superstar and his good friend Mondo Duplantis, who jumped 6.07m.
“This is my first time jumping six meters outdoors, but I knew I could jump high here today,” Marschall said.
“I love this stadium, I jumped 5.95m here three years ago.
“I’m very happy with how I performed.”
Marschall heads to Glasgow in fantastic form and in good shape to win his third Commonwealth Games gold medal after winning in 2018 on the Gold Coast, and 2022 in Birmingham.
Fellow West Australian Nina Kennedy’s (WA, James Fitzpatrick) great season continued too, she won the pole vault with a jump of 4.80m.
The 4.80m comes after her Australian Record jump of 4.95m in Monaco last weekend.
Hungary holds special memories for the Australian pole vaulting superstar.
“I won my first ever World Championship gold medal in this stadium together with Katie (Moon) in 2023, and we famously shared the title,” Kennedy said.
“I haven’t been back here since then, so returning to this stadium brought back a lot of special memories.”
The good news continued for the Australians in the field, with Eleanor Patterson (NSW, Fuzz Caan/Marco Fassinotti) and Nicola Olyslagers (NSW, Matt Horsnell) finishing first and second in the high jump.
Patterson jumped 2.00m, the second time she has jumped that high this season.
It was also an impressive jump for Olyslagers, finishing with her 1.98m in her first competition back overseas since winning a silver medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships back in March.
“The performances by all the girls out there really pushed me to another level,” Patterson said.
“I know I’m in great shape, and I just enjoyed every moment of the competition.”
Olyslagers, and very likely Patterson, will be back at the National Athletics Centre in Hungary where the meet was held overnight for the World Athletics Ultimate Championships in September.
The stellar performances of our women middle distance runners continued, with Abbey Caldwell (VIC, Gavin Burren) taking out the win with a time of 4:01.79, Claudia Hollingsworth (VIC, Craig Mottram) coming in second with a time of 4:02.09, and Georgia Griffith (VIC, Nic Bideau ) 6th with a time of 4:04.08.
“It was definitely a bit messy and not particularly fast, but it was really good race practice,” Caldwell said.
“My main goal was to get race-ready for the Commonwealth Games coming up, I think everyone had a similar mindset so it turned into a more tactical race than a fast one.”
Hollingsworth was also happy with the style of the race.
“That’s the race I’ve been waiting to practice, so I’m really glad I got to do that today.”
Other impressive results from the Australians included:
Jackson Sharp (NSW, Jackson Mullaney) finished third in the 3000m with a PB of 7:33.59.
Delta Amidzovski (NSW, Rebecca Amidzovski) finished 5th in the long jump with a distance of 6.65m.
Lachlan Kennedy (QLD, Andrew Iselin) finished sixth in the 200m with a time of 20.44.
Australians will continue to compete across Europe before the Commonwealth Games kicks off in Glasgow, with the athletics program starting on Monday July 27.
By Luke Dennehy, Australian Athletics
Posted 16/7/2026
