Home » News and Media » News » 2010 » June » Hooker set for French test
04.06.2010
Trumped by German Malte Mohr in the first of seven men’s pole vault competitions on the all-new Diamond League calendar, Hooker will return to action in Oslo looking to raise the bar beyond the 5.50m that saw him into a surprise sixth place in Shanghai late last month.
The 27-year-old Western Australian-based star will again face Mohr on the runway tonight, but it will be the Diamond League debut of arch nemesis Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) that poses the greatest threat to Hooker’s tilt at his maiden Diamond League crown.
The 2009 world championships bronze medallist and reigning European indoor champion enters the meet as the man most likely to challenge the world champion, Lavillenie to take to the runway with a career-high mark of 6.01m to his name that sees him sit just five centimetres shy of Hooker’s lifetime best.
Last month Hooker told the IAAF website Lavillenie was on his radar ahead of their imminent clash.
“For me, Renaud has a touch of madness about him," Hooker said.
"I find his way of jumping a bit crazy. He runs very fast over his 20 strides and he’s also very aggressive. He clearly has the potential to go even higher, because he has all the necessary elements you need for this discipline: a very good technique, power and a high-speed run-up.
"His 6.01m jump was incredible. I wasn’t surprised by the progress he made last year. I was able to watch a video of his victory at the European Indoor Championships so I’m aware of his qualities and his potential.”
Lavillenie said the opportunity to jump against the best vaulter in the world was a key motivating factor to be at his best this season.
“The presence of Steve Hooker in a competition is a great source of motivation for me. It spurs me on. I consider it to be a challenge worth taking up," Lavillenie said.
"With him as a direct opponent, I just know we’re going to have a battle on our hands. A battle is often synonymous with some interesting performances, because to win against a rival of such calibre, you have to be capable of jumping 5.90m, 6m or more.”
After starting his year with victory at the Sydney and Melbourne Track Classics, the IAAF world indoor championships in Doha (QAT) and the Australian national titles in Perth, Hooker last month embarked on an 11-meet, 10-nation tour that will take him all the way to his Commonwealth Games title defence in New Delhi, India, in October.
On the runway tonight he will face fellow world championships finalists Maksym Mazuryk (UKR), Aleksander Gripich (RUS), Steven Lewis (GBR), Alexander Straub (GER) and Derek Miles (USA) in what is shaping up as a tough test for the world’s leading pole vaulters.
Also in action in Oslo tonight will be Beijing Olympian Mitch Kealey in the men’s 1500m, one of several non-Diamond League events on the program.
After placing third over 1500m at the Sydney Track Classic and second over the same distance at the Melbourne Track Classic, Kealey finished fourth at the national championships in Perth in April to just miss out on a berth on the Commonwealth Games team.
The 26-year-old Queenslander will turn his attention to the 800m in a bid for nomination to his first Commonwealth Games team.
Closer to home, fellow Olympic medallist Sally Pearson will step out on the Gold Coast tomorrow as she continues her return from injury en route to her Diamond League debut in New York (USA) on June 12 and onwards to the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October.
Pearson will be joined at the first meet of the 2010 Gold Coast winter series by fellow Commonwealth Games-nominated athletes Patrick Johnson (100m/200m – TBC), Chris Noffke (long jump), Mitchell Watt (long jump – pending fitness), Simon Wardhaugh (hammer throw), Jody Henry (400m) and Pirrenee Steinert (400m) alongside a host of Delhi hopefuls.
World junior championships athletes Louise Maybury (400m), Anneliese Rubie (400m) and Rosie Lawson (100m hurdles), who will depart for the IAAF world junior titles in Moncton, Canada, in July, will also feature in the action as they finetune their preparations for the international titles.
On the west coast, some of the nation’s top middle distance runners will battle it out for the $8500 winner’s prize purse on offer at the Leonora Golden Gift on Sunday, with Commonwealth Games nominees Ryan Gregson and Jeremy Roff to headline a quality men’s mile field that includes 2006 Commonwealth Games representative Nick Bromley and 2010 world junior championships representatives Brett Robinson and Todd Wakefield.
In the women’s field, Beijing Olympian Lisa Corrigan will join Bridey Delaney and Melissa Rollison as the early favourites for the event.
In other athletics action this weekend, former world cross country champion Benita Willis will take on the Freihofer's 5km Run for Women in New York (USA), world championships marathon man Scott Westcott and Commonwealth Games marathon nominee Lisa Flint head up the Australian contingent on the start line of the Christchurch half marathon (NZL), and Olympic and world championships 3000m steeplechaser Youcef Abdi continues his bid for a ticket to Delhi when he lines up at the Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athletisme de Rabat in Morocco.
IAAF Diamond League – Round 3
Oslo (NOR)
Friday, June 4
17:50PM (01:50AM AEST)
Pole vault: Steve Hooker
18:30PM (02:30AM AEST)
1500m: Mitch Kealey (non-Diamond League event)
News
Hooker set for French test
World, Olympic, world indoor and Commonwealth Games champion Steve Hooker will tonight reprise his IAAF Diamond League campaign in Oslo, Norway, two weeks after opening his account with a shock defeat in Shanghai (CHN).Trumped by German Malte Mohr in the first of seven men’s pole vault competitions on the all-new Diamond League calendar, Hooker will return to action in Oslo looking to raise the bar beyond the 5.50m that saw him into a surprise sixth place in Shanghai late last month.
The 27-year-old Western Australian-based star will again face Mohr on the runway tonight, but it will be the Diamond League debut of arch nemesis Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) that poses the greatest threat to Hooker’s tilt at his maiden Diamond League crown.
The 2009 world championships bronze medallist and reigning European indoor champion enters the meet as the man most likely to challenge the world champion, Lavillenie to take to the runway with a career-high mark of 6.01m to his name that sees him sit just five centimetres shy of Hooker’s lifetime best.
Last month Hooker told the IAAF website Lavillenie was on his radar ahead of their imminent clash.
“For me, Renaud has a touch of madness about him," Hooker said.
"I find his way of jumping a bit crazy. He runs very fast over his 20 strides and he’s also very aggressive. He clearly has the potential to go even higher, because he has all the necessary elements you need for this discipline: a very good technique, power and a high-speed run-up.
"His 6.01m jump was incredible. I wasn’t surprised by the progress he made last year. I was able to watch a video of his victory at the European Indoor Championships so I’m aware of his qualities and his potential.”
Lavillenie said the opportunity to jump against the best vaulter in the world was a key motivating factor to be at his best this season.
“The presence of Steve Hooker in a competition is a great source of motivation for me. It spurs me on. I consider it to be a challenge worth taking up," Lavillenie said.
"With him as a direct opponent, I just know we’re going to have a battle on our hands. A battle is often synonymous with some interesting performances, because to win against a rival of such calibre, you have to be capable of jumping 5.90m, 6m or more.”
After starting his year with victory at the Sydney and Melbourne Track Classics, the IAAF world indoor championships in Doha (QAT) and the Australian national titles in Perth, Hooker last month embarked on an 11-meet, 10-nation tour that will take him all the way to his Commonwealth Games title defence in New Delhi, India, in October.
On the runway tonight he will face fellow world championships finalists Maksym Mazuryk (UKR), Aleksander Gripich (RUS), Steven Lewis (GBR), Alexander Straub (GER) and Derek Miles (USA) in what is shaping up as a tough test for the world’s leading pole vaulters.
Also in action in Oslo tonight will be Beijing Olympian Mitch Kealey in the men’s 1500m, one of several non-Diamond League events on the program.
After placing third over 1500m at the Sydney Track Classic and second over the same distance at the Melbourne Track Classic, Kealey finished fourth at the national championships in Perth in April to just miss out on a berth on the Commonwealth Games team.
The 26-year-old Queenslander will turn his attention to the 800m in a bid for nomination to his first Commonwealth Games team.
Closer to home, fellow Olympic medallist Sally Pearson will step out on the Gold Coast tomorrow as she continues her return from injury en route to her Diamond League debut in New York (USA) on June 12 and onwards to the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October.
Pearson will be joined at the first meet of the 2010 Gold Coast winter series by fellow Commonwealth Games-nominated athletes Patrick Johnson (100m/200m – TBC), Chris Noffke (long jump), Mitchell Watt (long jump – pending fitness), Simon Wardhaugh (hammer throw), Jody Henry (400m) and Pirrenee Steinert (400m) alongside a host of Delhi hopefuls.
World junior championships athletes Louise Maybury (400m), Anneliese Rubie (400m) and Rosie Lawson (100m hurdles), who will depart for the IAAF world junior titles in Moncton, Canada, in July, will also feature in the action as they finetune their preparations for the international titles.
On the west coast, some of the nation’s top middle distance runners will battle it out for the $8500 winner’s prize purse on offer at the Leonora Golden Gift on Sunday, with Commonwealth Games nominees Ryan Gregson and Jeremy Roff to headline a quality men’s mile field that includes 2006 Commonwealth Games representative Nick Bromley and 2010 world junior championships representatives Brett Robinson and Todd Wakefield.
In the women’s field, Beijing Olympian Lisa Corrigan will join Bridey Delaney and Melissa Rollison as the early favourites for the event.
In other athletics action this weekend, former world cross country champion Benita Willis will take on the Freihofer's 5km Run for Women in New York (USA), world championships marathon man Scott Westcott and Commonwealth Games marathon nominee Lisa Flint head up the Australian contingent on the start line of the Christchurch half marathon (NZL), and Olympic and world championships 3000m steeplechaser Youcef Abdi continues his bid for a ticket to Delhi when he lines up at the Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athletisme de Rabat in Morocco.
IAAF Diamond League – Round 3
Oslo (NOR)
Friday, June 4
17:50PM (01:50AM AEST)
Pole vault: Steve Hooker
18:30PM (02:30AM AEST)
1500m: Mitch Kealey (non-Diamond League event)
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