Australian Kurtis Marschall insists a difficult and disjointed buildup had nothing to do with the hugely disappointing way he bowed out of the Olympic pole vault final.
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Marschall, who was considered a legitimate medal chance at the Tokyo Games, did not register a clearance after dislodging the bar with all three attempts at his opening height of 5.55m.
The 24-year-old Commonwealth Games champion has a personal best of 5.87m and cleared 5.75m at the first time of asking in the qualifying round just three days ago.
But he was unable to get going at all on Tuesday evening with the medals up for grabs.
"I wasn't able to hit my cues tonight," he told the Seven Network.
"I though my prep was perfect, all of this other stuff that happened in the background was like nothing.
"I was out there feeling awesome, I couldn't wait to get amongst it with the boys, but sometimes that's just sport.
"There are so many different elements in pole vault that you have to nail and execute perfectly.
"The guys that you are seeing right now, all credit to them because they've obviously worked their arses off to get where they are and they make it look easy.
"I made it look hard tonight."
On the eve of the track and field competition in Tokyo, Marschall, fellow Australian vaulter Nina Kennedy and coach Paul Burgess were inadvertently caught up in a COVID-19 drama.
The trio were sent into isolation after being deemed to be casual contacts of star US vaulter Sam Kendricks, who tested positive to COVID-19 and was barred from competing in Tokyo.
The Australians all returned a series of negative results, but Marschall and Kennedy were still required to isolate away from their teammates for the duration of the Games.
Kennedy bowed out in the women's qualifying round.
Australian Associated Press
