Brandon Starc
Brandon Starc is an Australian high jumper. He holds the national and Oceania records, with a jump of 2.36 m achieved in 2018. A three-time Olympian, Starc has represented Australia at the Athletics at the [2016 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump|2016], Athletics at the [2020 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump|2020], and Athletics at the [2024 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump|2024 Olympic Games].
Early life
Starc attended Lidcombe Public School and started his athletics career at Tiger Wests Little Athletics Centre in Auburn before moving to Parramatta in later years. He began to take his high jump achievements seriously and moved to Hills Sports High School. Starc also played cricket and football, but decided to concentrate on high jumping.Achievements
At the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010, Brandon won silver with a personal best of 2.19 m.Starc won his first National Senior Athletics Championships title in 2012 with 2.28 m, going on to qualify as a finalist at the 2012 [World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's high jump|2012 World Junior Championships] in Barcelona where he finished sixth, ahead of his senior debut in 2013 [World Championships in Athletics|2013 World Championships] in Moscow. Starc has also competed in the finals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games – Men's high jump|2014 Commonwealth Games].
Starc rose to prominence in the senior international track and field scene at 21 yrs of age, when he made to the high jump final at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, finishing at twelfth position. Moreover, Starc produced a personal best of 2.31 m at his first attempt at that height during the qualifying phase of the competition.
In the 2016 [Summer Olympics">Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump">2016 [Summer Olympics – Men's high jump|men's high jump] event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, he achieved a season best of 2.29 m in the qualifying stage to make the final. He entered at 2.20 m in the final, clearing his second attempt, but did not progress from there.
Brandon had a quiet 2017, not qualifying for the 2019 [World Athletics Championships|2017 World Championships] in Doha due to a shin injury. In 2018, he won his third Australian National title on 17 February with a leap of 2.28 m. He set a new personal best of 2.32 m in winning gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Queensland, on 11 April. He competed in a couple of events in Japan in May, before a spectacular three-month campaign in Europe. He equalled his personal best on 2 July finishing third at the Gyulai István Memorial in Székesfehérvár, Hungary. He achieved a new personal best of 2.33 m winning a Diamond League meeting in Birmingham on 18 August 2018.
He then set a third personal best for the year and equalled the Australian and Oceania records of 2.36 m in winning the prestigious annual Eberstadt Internationales Hochsprung meeting in Eberstadt on 26 August. That is the third highest leap so far in 2018. He then won the Diamond League Final|2018 Diamond League Final] in Brussels, on 31 August, clearing 2.33 m. Starc rounded off his 2018 European-summer campaign with a second place leap of 2.30 m at the Continental Cup in Ostrava on 8 September 2018.
Starc qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics placing second in his group and qualifying for the finals. He placed fifth after jumping a height of 2.33 m, just 0.04 m short of the shared winners, Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi.