14.03.2010

Hooker, Lapierre take world indoor gold in Doha

Reigning world, Olympic and Commonwealth pole vault champion Steve Hooker and Australian Flame teammate Fabrice Lapierre have taken out world indoor victories on a golden night for Australia at the world indoor championships in Doha, Qatar, overnight.

Day two of the world indoor meet saw four Australians line up at the Aspire Dome, Hooker and Lapierre joined in the finals action by world championships long jump bronze medallist Mitchell Watt, who added world indoor bronze to his burgeoning career resume, and shot putter Scott Martin, who placed eighth.

Hooker, the 27-year-old captain of the Australian Flame and undisputed king of international pole vault, took victory with a leap of 6.01m and now owns all four major international crowns, adding world indoor honours to the 2009 world championships (5.90m), 2008 Olympic (5.96m) and 2006 Commonwealth Games (5.80m) titles already lining his trophy cabinet.

The Western Australian-based vaulter and bronze medallist at the 2008 edition of the world indoor meet held in Valencia, Spain, tonight opened his campaign with a first-up clearance of 5.70m then soared over 5.80m on his first attempt.

With victory in the bag after German Malte Mohr came unstuck at 5.85m, Hooker set his sights on the championship record height of 6.01m and sailed over the bar on his third and final attempt to record his first clearance over 6.00m for 2010.

Three failed attempts at the world record height of 6.16m did nothing to dampen the spirits of an ecstatic Hooker.

“I feel fantastic, I’m very, very happy,” he said.

“I was very happy with my jump at 6.01m, it felt like I had done everything right. It was exciting to break the championship record and it felt as good as I have ever jumped in my career.”

Despite missing out on the world mark Hooker said he would take confidence from his final sky-high attempt at 6.16m.

"I think it was fantastic, the biggest jump I’ve ever done in a competition. To know that it is there is really promising," he said.

Running through on his first attempt at the height and stalling on the pole on the second, Hooker said nerves were not to blame for missing the mark in Doha tonight.

"It wasn't nerves, I was ready to jump it," he said.

In the long jump pit Lapierre made an unsettled start to competition, posting two fouls before finding his stride to leap beyond 8.00m on three consecutive occasions.

Following jumps of 8.01m and 8.09m in Rounds 3 and 4 respectively, Lapierre nailed the winning leap of 8.17m on his fifth attempt and held on to secure victory.

The two-time World Athletics Final champion (2008, 2009) and No. 1 ranked qualifier going into tonight’s final was rapt to take out his maiden indoor championship on a huge night for Australian athletics.

“My jump was not that great but it was good enough for gold,” Lapierre said.

“If I needed to I think I could have chased today, I was in the lead and I am not used to being in the lead so I just held on for victory.

“It means a lot to win here. It builds my confidence and now I can look forward to the summer season.

“Two gold medals for Australia today; we are improving as a team.”

Hooker and Lapierre join Mike Hillardt (1500m, 1985), Melinda Gainsford-Taylor (200m, 1995), Kerry Saxby-Junna (3000m walk, 1989) and Tamsyn Lewis (800m, 2008) as the only Australians to have taken home world indoor titles in the meet’s 26-year history.

On a bumper night for Australian long jump, Mitchell Watt added a second bronze medal to the bronze honour he took home from last year’s world championships in Berlin, placing third with a final round effort of 8.05m.

Hampered by an existing groin injury, Watt said it was an exciting night on the runway.

“My groin started to hurt me after the first attempt but I told myself to continue. I felt really good before the final and I was confident in myself after winning a medal in Berlin last year,” he said.

“The competition was very exciting and I have never had to fight for a medal with my last attempt before. I was joking with Fabrice last night that we were going to take first and second for Australia but this is also perfect.”

Defending world indoors champion and world and Olympic silver medallist Godfrey Mokoena (RSA) snared the silver medal with a season’s best leap of 8.08m.

Rounding out a big night for Australia at the Aspire Dome, 27-year-old Victorian Scott Martin placed eighth in the final of the men’s shot put with a heave of 19.76m.

On a turbulent night for the stalwart shot putter, Martin posted 19.36m in Round 3 and 19.76m in Round 4 for his only two recorded distances of the night.

In what was described as the greatest shot put competition in world indoor championships history, US athlete Christian Cantwell became the first ever three-time indoor shot put champion with a throw of 21.83m in the final round.

In other indoor action from across the weekend, Australian Flame athlete David McNeill has posted a new Australian indoor record to take out his first NCAA title, winning the men’s 5000m at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA).

McNeill, who placed 24th over 10,000m at last year’s world championships in Berlin, clocked a quick 3:36.41 to take out the indoor title and surpass Shawn Forrest’s previous Australian-best time of 13:37.77 (Fayetteville, 13/02/2009).

"It was tough, I guess I had a slightly different approach to this race and put more pressure on myself and it could have gone one of two ways, it could have paid off or come back to bite me,” he said.

“I took the risk and fought for it and came up with my first NCAA title. It feels really good."

The 23-year-old Northern Arizona University student will return to action later this weekend in the final of the men’s 3000m, where he will be out to claim a clean sweep of the long distance events.