23.02.2010

Hooker to lead world indoor charge

World and Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker will lead a small but world-class Australian contingent in action at the IAAF world indoor championships in Doha, Qatar, next month in his first international appearance since his heroic world titles win.

Twenty-seven-year-old Hooker will be joined at the March 12-14 meet by Australian Flame teammates Mitchell Watt (long jump), Fabrice Lapierre (long jump), Petrina Price (high jump), Scott Martin (shot put) and Sean Wroe (400m), the selection of Martin and Wroe subject to the two athletes achieving village entry standards.

Hooker will enter the Doha meet as hot favourite to add world indoor honours to an already impressive resume that features 2006 Commonwealth, 2008 Olympic and 2009 world championships gold. Needing only a world indoor title to round out his trophy cabinet, the Western Australian-based vaulter will look to Doha to secure the grand slam of athletics accolades.

Hooker returns to the international arena following an all-conquering run in 2009 that saw the inaugural captain of the Australian Flame raise his career-best mark to 6.06m at the Boston Indoor Games in February and triumph over adversity to claim his maiden world title in August. In a stirring show of Aussie spirit and determination, Hooker overcame a serious tear to his adductor muscle sustained just 10 days ahead of his world championships campaign to take out pole vault gold in Berlin.

In his only other appearance at a world indoor championships in Valencia, Spain, in 2008, Hooker placed third with a leap of 5.80m and with Olympic and world championships glory now under his belt, will line up as the man to beat in 2010.

Twenty-one-year-old Mitchell Watt will also head to Doha carrying high hopes for a medal on the back of a similarly impressive year on the international stage. With a new personal best mark of 8.43m recorded in Rethymno, Greece, in July, Watt leapt to No. 2 on the Australian all-time list and in taking bronze at the Berlin world championships the following month asserted himself as a genuine contender on the world stage.

Watt will be joined on his world indoor debut by fellow long jumper Fabrice Lapierre, who after placing fourth at last year’s world titles will be one of Watt’s major challengers when competition gets under way in Doha. 

Also on track for the world indoor meet are 25-year-old Petrina Price, who is eyeing off a third successive Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October, and 2008 world indoor championships representatives Scott Martin and Sean Wroe, both subject to meeting village entry standards.

In their only other appearance at a world indoor championships in Spain in 2008, Martin placed seventh in the men’s shot put with a throw of 20.13m while Wroe placed sixth in the men’s one-lap event in 46.93.

Held every two years since 1985, four Australians have won gold at the world indoor championships; Mike Hillardt (1500m) in 1985, Melinda Gainsford-Taylor (200m) in 1995, Kerry Saxby-Junna (3000m walk) in 1989 and Tamsyn Lewis (800m) in 2008.

Men (5)
400m: Sean Wroe (24, Vic)*
Pole vault: Steve Hooker (27, WA)
Long jump: Fabrice Lapierre (26, NSW), Mitchell Watt (21, Qld)
Shot put: Scott Martin (27, Vic)*

Women (1)
High jump: Petrina Price (25, NSW)

* Subject to achieving village entry standard

All six athletes selected to the Australian team for the 2010 IAAF world indoor championships will feature in the action at the Sydney Track Classic at Sydney Olympic Park this Saturday, February 27 in the penultimate round of the Australian Athletics Tour.

Tickets to the Sydney Track Classic are selling fast. Book your seat here today!