19.07.2008

Hooker no longer flying under the radar

Steve Hooker has become accustomed to flying under the radar.

Despite accumulating Commonwealth and World Cup gold medals, and a string of victories in Europe, his efforts often come on the same day as a better performance from a teammate – who captures the headlines and limelight.

Not tonight in Paris, when Hooker was the standout Australian performer, taking another leap closer to achieving his Olympic ambitions by winning the pole vault at the Meeting Gaz de France – the Paris leg of the IAAF Golden League.

In more promising news for the Australian squad, javelin thrower Jarrod Bannister produced the second best throw of his career to finish second.

Hooker cleared a height of 5.70m to win the competition on count back from Germany’s Alexander Straub. The West Australian had a close failure at his first attempt at 5.80m and after another failure at that height, but knowing that he had the competition won, moved the bar to 5.85m, which he narrowly missed.

“I feel like I was jumping well enough to jump higher,” said Hooker.

“It was tricky conditions so I’m glad I held it together pretty well.”

Hooker said that the fluctuating wind conditions made jumping difficult, but took confidence from his performance.

“It’s only my third competition so I’m ironing out some kinks. Next week is going to be a really big one,” he said in reference to the London Grand Prix meeting at Crystal Palace.

“London is pretty much going to be like an Olympic final.

“There are going to be some mind games – it will be the first time and only time that I will meet Brad Walker and Evgeniy Lukyanenko before Beijing,” he said in reference to the only two athletes to have jumped higher than him this year.

American Walker has cleared 6.04m this season, whilst Russian Lukyanenko joined the exclusive 6 metre club with a jump of 6.01m earlier this month. Hooker’s personal best stands at 6.00m – one of only 14 men ever to clear the height.

“It will be a real test of where we are all at. It’s the big meet, it is what I have set myself for in this preparation. It’s the one competition I’ve been focusing everything towards.”

Hooker’s performances is certainly capturing the attention of the athletics world, he was the most selected athlete to win in Paris, by world wide athletics fans participating in the IAAF’s fantasy athletics competition. 

Australian record holder in the javelin, Jarrod Bannister, finished second after leading for much of the competition. The Queenslander started the competition with a promising 84.76m in the first round and had another strong throw of 84.47m in the third round.

Despite not being able to respond in the final round after Latvian Vadim Vasilevskis took the lead with a throw of 85.61m, Bannister took confidence from the performance, which included the second and third best throws of his career behind his personal best of 89.02m set at the national championships – a performance which remains the longest thrown in the world this year.

Sarah Jamieson backed up from her 4:02.54 run in Athens earlier in the week to record another strong run in the women’s 1500m by finishing fourth.

The 33-year-old ran mid-pack during the early portions of the race before moving towards the lead as the pacemakers withdrew from the field with during the third lap. Approaching the bell Jamieson took the lead before being jostled back a few positions as the field surged.

“There were two girls in the race who were looking out for each other and they slowed the pace down almost to a walk at 430m to go. I thought that it’s pointless sitting behind them when they are in front of you and faster than you.”

Jamieson ran strongly over the final lap to finish in 4:02.94 – a mere half a second slower than her run in Athens - behind current world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain who took victory in 3:59.99.

“I didn’t feel as good as I did in Athens. I felt a little bit tired,” said Jamieson.

“It’s good practice for the rounds [of the Olympics]. I’m strong at the moment. Over the next four weeks I just need to get my wheels back and finish off the races as fast as the winners are doing.”

Jamieson will conclude her European racing campaign in Monte Carlo on 29 July.

Tamsyn Lewis faced a fast pace in the women’s 800m in her third race of the week after a sub two minute 800m in Rome on Saturday and a 400m two days ago in Luzern.

With the field strung out after the pacemaker guided Pamela Jelimo through the first lap in a fast 55.71 seconds, Lewis struggled down the back straight of the second lap and lost contact with the rest of the field.

The 29-year-old finished eighth in 2:00.94, with Jelimo setting a new world junior record and world leading time for the season in 1:54.97.

“I’m really tired. It has been a long campaign over here and I’m ready to go home and do some warm weather training with my coach,” said Lewis, who will fly to Darwin tomorrow.

“My goal is to get a PB out at the Olympics. If I can do that, no matter where I finish, I will be happy.

“I know what I can run – it’s certainly not 1:54 – but I’m pretty sure if I can freshen up a bit hopefully I can break that 1:59 and do my best for Australia.”

Two other Australia’s were in action at the meet. Paul Burgess finished fourth in the pole vault with a leap of 5.50m, whilst Georgie Clarke acted as the pacemaker for the women’s 5000m.

Other highlights of the meet were Cuba’s Dayron Robles narrowly missing his own world record in the 110m hurdles by a mere hundredth of a second with a run of 12.88 seconds and American Jeremy Wariner continuing to turn the tables on his compatriot LaShawn Merritt by breaking his own meet record with a run of 43.86 seconds.

By Tim McGrath in Paris for Athletics Australia