Brandon Starc

Brandon Starc
Starc at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Personal information
Born (1993-11-24) 24 November 1993
Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Weight71 kg (157 lb)[2]
Relative(s)Mitchell Starc (brother)
Alyssa Healy (sister-in-law)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event
High jump
Coached byAlex Stewart[3]
Achievements and titles
Personal bests2.36 m AR NR (2018)
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Australia
Diamond League
2018 Brussels High jump
Commonwealth Games
2018 Gold Coast High jump
2022 Birmingham High jump
Continental Cup
2018 Ostrava High jump
Youth Olympic Games
2010 Singapore High jump

Brandon Starc (born 24 November 1993) is an Australian high jumper.[4] 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 2016, 2020, and 2024 Olympic Games.[5][6][7]

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.[8] He began to take his high jump achievements seriously and moved to Hills Sports High School. Starc also played cricket (like his elder brother Mitchell Starc) 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.[9]

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 Barcelona where he finished sixth, ahead of his senior debut in 2013 World Championships in Moscow. Starc has also competed in the finals at the 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 (the first Australian to contest a major men's high jump final since Tim Forsyth in 1997 at Athens). Moreover, Starc produced a personal best of 2.31 m at his first attempt at that height during the qualifying phase of the competition.[10]

In the 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.[11] He entered at 2.20 m in the final, clearing his second attempt, but did not progress from there.[12][13]

Brandon had a quiet 2017, not qualifying for the 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.[14] 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 (set by Tim Forsyth in 1997) in winning the prestigious annual Eberstadt Internationales Hochsprung meeting in Eberstadt on 26 August.[15] That is the third highest leap so far in 2018. He then won the 2018 Diamond League Final in Brussels, on 31 August, clearing 2.33 m.[16] 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.[7]

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.[6]

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
2012 World Junior Athletics Championships Barcelona, Spain 6th High jump 2.17
2013 World Championships Moscow, Russia 25th High jump 2.17
2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, Scotland 8th High jump 2.20 (Q)
2.21 (F)
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 12th High jump 2.31 (Q)
2.25 (F)
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 15th High jump 2.29 (Q)
2.20 (F)
2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 1st High jump 2.21 (Q)
2.32 (F)
2018 Internationales Hochsprung Eberstadt, Germany 1st High jump 2.36
2018 IAAF Diamond League Final Brussels, Belgium 1st High jump 2.33
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 5th High jump 2.35 (F)
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 8th High jump 2.25 m
2024 Olympic Games Paris, France 13th (q) High jump 2.24 m
2025 World Championships Tokyo, Japan 29th (q) High jump 2.16 m

Personal life

Starc is the younger brother of Australian cricketer Mitchell Starc and brother-in-law of Australian women's cricket captain Alyssa Healy. He is married to fellow athlete Laura Turner.[17] He collects sports shoes and is a keen photographer.[18]

References

  1. ^ Azal Khan and Lawrence Machado (2 August 2016). "Hills Sports High Seven Hills' Brandon Starc and Chloe Logarzo become Olympians". The Daily Telegraph. News Corp. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Brandon Starc". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  3. ^ Tuxworth, Jon (18 December 2015). "High jumper Brandon Starc brimming with confidence as he targets Olympic glory". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  4. ^ "Athlete Profile: Brandon Starc". athletics.com.au. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  5. ^ "Brandon Starc". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Athletics STARC Brandon - Tokyo 2020 Olympics". olympics.com. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Brandon Starc". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  8. ^ "Brandon Starc". Australian Olympic Committee. 7 March 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  9. ^ "The Starc-kest reality | the Examiner". Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  10. ^ "World Athletics Championships: Australia's Brandon Starc qualifies for Beijing high jump final". ABC News Australia. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  11. ^ "Exciting track and field team announced for Rio Olympic Games". Australian Olympic Committee. 3 August 2016. Archived from the original on 25 July 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  12. ^ "Athletics: Men's High Jump Final". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  13. ^ "Brandon Starc of Australia comes last in high jump final at Rio Olympics". Sydney Morning Herald. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  14. ^ "Starc claims Australia's first men's high jump Games gold since 1994". 11 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Brandon Starc equals 21-year-old Australian high jump record". 27 August 2018.
  16. ^ Salvado, John (1 September 2018). "Starc jumping for joy after Brussels heroics". News.com.au.
  17. ^ "PB and finals berth for high jumper Starc". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  18. ^ "Brandon Starc-New Page".
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