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Hooker set to reprise Russian battle
Olympic gold medallist Steve Hooker OAM will come face-to-face with the man he defeated in a heart-stopping Olympic battle in Beijing when he jumps against Russian Yevgeniy Lukyanenko in Australia this summer.
Hooker will join Olympic 100m hurdles silver medallist Sally McLellan in action at the two major domestic meets – the Sydney Track Classic on Saturday, 28 February, and at Australia’s premier athletics meeting, the World Athletics Tour Melbourne on Thursday, 5 March.
McLellan, who elevated herself into the minds of the Australian public with a stunning display in Beijing, will line up alongside two quality international stars, Commonwealth Games champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton (JAM) and NCAA champion Nichole Denby (USA).
Hooker, who celebrated Australia Day with confirmation he had been awarded the Order of Australia, will have a point to prove, after the Russian was handed the world number one ranking by US magazine Track and Field News despite his stunning Olympic win in a new Olympic record of 5.96m.
Lukyanenko has been tagged as the event’s next superstar after an outstanding 2008, which saw him improve on his personal best by a whopping 20cm. In July, he entered the prestigious six metre club in Bydgoszcz, Poland, his 6.01m clearance moving him to ninth on the world all-time list.
Meeting four times last year, the 24-year-old Russian had the upperhand over Hooker on three occasions – on his way to winning the world indoor title in Valencia, on his way to 6.01m in Poland and on a countback in London.
However, Hooker and Lukyanenko won’t have it all their own way this Australian summer. Australia’s other six metre man Paul Burgess is also returning to form with the former world No. 1 posting a world championships A qualifier of 5.70m at a Perth intra-club meet two weeks ago. They will be joined by World Cup runner-up Daichi Sawano from Japan, who boasts a competitive personal best of 5.83m.
Speaking before leaving Australia for a series of indoor competitions in Europe and the United States, Hooker said he was thrilled that he would get the chance to renew his rivalry with the Russian on home soil this summer.
“Yevgeniy and I have a shared a great rivalry over the last two years. We had some great battles in Europe in 2008, and of course our contest in Beijing was our best yet,” said Hooker.
“It’s the best possible outcome to have him down under and we plan to put on a great show for the Sydney and Melbourne crowds. There’s going to be three six-metre men in the field and there’s every chance the bar could reach that height this summer.”
Speaking from his home town in Krasnador, Lukyanenko said he was looking forward to escaping the harsh Russian winter and the opportunity to jump against Hooker.
"I’m really looking forward to coming to Australia; it will be my first time there. It will be a great chance to experience the Australian summer during the Russian winter, right now it is very cold here,” said Lukyanenko.
"It's always a great competition between Steve and myself. There was not much between Steve and I in all our competitions last year, it is always very close."
Turning attention back to the track, Sally McLellan will have stiff competition over the 100m hurdles in the form of Jamaica’s Brigitte Foster-Hylton and the United States’ Nichole Denby.
Foster-Hylton, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and World Cup champion, met McLellan eight times last year, the Australian defeating the more experienced Jamaican on five occasions, including the Olympic final in which the 34-year-old finished sixth. Foster-Hylton produced the third-fastest time of 2008 clocking 12.49 in Monaco, just four-hundredths outside her personal best – the same meet in which McLellan established her national record of 12.53.
Denby, 26, just missed selection for the 2008 Olympics after finishing fourth at the highly competitive USA trials – all three USA women made the final in Beijing. The University of Texas student, who was crowned NCAA champion in 2004, has a personal best of 12.54 seconds.
“I’m really looking forward to the challenge. Athletics Australia are bringing out two very talented girls to race against me and hopefully the three of us will push each other to some very fast times,“ said McLellan.
Hooker and McLellan fly out to the United States this afternoon for a short campaign on the indoor circuit.
For Hooker it will be his first competition since Beijing, his four-week sojourn including indoor competitions in New York, Boston, Paris, Donetsk and Stockholm.
For McLellan, it will be her first taste of indoor action, her visit to the United States taking in New York and Boston before returning to the Gold Coast for a training stint in preparation for the Australian season.
Both the Sydney Track Classic and World Athletics Tour Melbourne will be broadcast around Australia on Network Ten. Any Australian athlete who breaks an Australian record will receive a $10,000 bonus as part of the $310,000 prize money on offer this summer.
Sydney Track Classic – Sydney Olympic Park – Saturday 28 February 2009
World Athletics Tour - Olympic Park Melbourne – Thursday 5 March 2009
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