20.08.2009

Aussies sweep into finals, Bolt show rolls on

The Australian Flame today swept into three world championship finals as four athletes featured on a great day of competition at Berlin Olympic Stadium.

Olympic champion Steve Hooker, long jumpers Fabrice Lapierre and Mitchell Watt and 5000m runner Collis Birmingham all made it through to the deciding rounds on a great day for Australia.

Usain Bolt, the world’s most recognisable track and field athlete, again lowered a world mark, this time recording 19.19 for the 200m, taking 0.11 of a second off his time from the Beijing Olympics last year.

Watch Usain Bolt's post-race interview here

One jump was all it took for Olympic gold medallist Steve Hooker to progress to the final of the men's pole vault on Saturday night.

Suffering an adductor tear last week Hooker, coach Alex Parnov and the medical team have been working around the clock to get him fit for competiton but there are no guarantees, despite easily clearing the bar at 5.65m, that he will line up in the final.

Fifteen men will join Hooker in the final tomorrow night, most notably the newest inductee to the six-metre club, Renaud Lavillenie (FRA), Derek Miles (USA), who won the World Athletics Final last year and former Australian Victor Christiakov, who will once again represent his native Russia.

Ten vaulters qualified at 5.65m and five at 5.55m, and not one athlete attempted 5.75m, the automatic qualification mark.

The one-jump qualification suited Hooker’s plans and after his experience in Osaka, he remained relatively confident that 5.65m would be enough to get him through.

"I didn't have more than one than one jump in me so I had to make it a good one," Hooker said.

"I knew straight away that I had to shut it down to give myself any chance of competing in two days. Hopefully I can, but I think things have to go well."

He will look to employ a similar strategy for tomorrow night's final.

"Definitely it's not going to be an option for me to do any warm-up jumps. I think if I do a warm-up jump and then have to wait an hour to start competition it's not good for me," Hooker said.

So Hooker, as long as he’s fit, is likely to enter the competition late and hope to make an impact with one or two jumps. It’s going to be tough but if anyone can do it, it’s the Olympic champ.

Watch Steve Hooker’s post-event interview here

The men’s pole vault final will be held on Saturday night at 6:15pm Berlin time (2:15am AEST).

Fabrice Lapierre and Mitchell Watt made the long jump world turn their attention down under yet again this year, and Australia's great long jumping tradition is set to continue into Saturday night’s final.

Both Flame jumpers progressed after landing 8.14m into the pit, missing the automatic mark by just one centimetre.

Lapierre decided to gamble on the other jumpers not making the qualifying mark and opted to pass in the second round, but the less experienced Watt decided he couldn’t take the risk.

Watt hurtled down the runway and recorded a big foul, destroying the board in the process.

Midway through the final round both boys had donned their Aussie greens and made their way from the field of play, confident they had done enough to make the all-important final and they did, finishing equal fifth.

American Dwight Phillips, who jumped a lazy 8.44m in the opening round from well back on the board looks impressive for the final, but Mokoena from South Africa and Panamanian Irving Saladino can also jump big. With some of the longest jumps in the world this year, the Australians could also be a threat.

It’s the second time Australia will have two finalists in the men's long jump, Lapierre and Watt joining Jai Taurima and Shane Hair, who finished fourth and fifth respectively in Seville in 1999, as dual finalists.

Gary Honey and David Culbert are also former finalists at this level.

Twenty-one year old Watt, who has only recently returned to athletics after five years out of the sport, was thrilled with the result.

“I’m pretty happy. I did what I wanted to do, something good in the first round so I didn’t put too much pressure on myself for the second and third,” he said.

“It would have been nice to get an auto, but I was pretty confident that 8.14m would get through going on previous years.”

Deciding he couldn’t risk missing the final by a centimetre Watt jumped in the second round.

“I was 99 per cent sure it would be enough but there was that one per cent of me that didn’t want to risk it. If I did happen to get knocked out and I did pass my last two jumps I would have looked like a goose,” he said.

Now safely through to the world's top 12, Watt is determined to go all the way.

“I can do it. I’d say if I do a PB I’d be in the mix for a medal and that’s definitely the plan,” he said.

Watch Mitchell Watt’s post-event interview here

Lapierre, the winner of last year’s World Athletics Final and the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, was also glad to have gone through in a single jump.

“I was happy and a little sad,” he said.

“I would have liked to have done the automatic but in the end it was like an automatic, I didn’t jump again so I’m just ready to go for the final now.”

Lapierre, who lives and trains in Texas, believes Dwight Phillips will be the one to beat on Saturday night.

“He looks great but I don’t think 8.44m is going to be enough to win. You would probably say 8.60m-plus is going to win it,” he said.

“It’s going to be very close, I think 8.20m is not going to get a medal. I think you will have to go over 8.30m. For me, I’m just going to try to get a PB and see where that takes me.”

Lapierre hasn’t jumped for a month and was happy to get one on the board early, leaving him fresh and confident for the final on Saturday night.

“I haven’t jumped for a month and I had a little injury in London but it’s not too bad now, so I’ve got a lot more improvement. My coach will be happy with that, he knows there is a lot more in my jump so we’ll just go out to the warm-up track and re-assess what’s going on but he’s confident I can do something big on Saturday.”

Watch Fabrice Lapierre’s post event interview here

The final of the men’s long jump is on Saturday night at 6:05pm Berlin time (2:05am AEST).

Thanks to some gutsy running and a sleepy second heat, Victorian Collis Birmingham will line up in the final of the 5000m on Sunday afternoon. After being unable to finish the 10,000m earlier in the week, Birmingham was aiming to get on the track and run as hard as he could to prove he belongs on the world stage.

Sitting in fifth after one lap the Olympic representative knew he had a big job to be one of the five automatic qualifiers. At 2000m Birmingham, fresh from a personal best over one mile in London, sat in ninth and at 4000m was 11th with a split of 10.49.44.

Crossing the line in 10th place in 13.23.48 Birmingham had a nervous wait for the second heat, all the while hoping the time would be slow enough for ten qualifiers to come from heat one.

Like they knew the script the second heat was slow, Kipsiro taking the honours in 13:02.98 and Birmingham was through by the slightest of margins - 0.38 of a second - to become the second Australian to make a world championships 5000m final behind Craig Mottram, who won bronze behind Limo in 2005.

Birmingham was relieved to make it through.

“I’m really pleased. I came here wanting to do it, so after the last few days I’ve had I’m very happy to be in the final” he said.

After pulling out of the 10,000m many questioned his decision to run both races but Birmingham felt he had proven a lot with tonight's run.

“I am (happy I ran both), I’m disappointed in not finishing the 10km, pulling out of the first race I’ve ever pulled out of, that’s the only disappointment I have. I just wish I had have done it better,” he said.

“I had a bit of extra determination after Monday night’s performance. (Coach) Nic (Bideau) basically said to me to put myself in the race and if anyone wants to knock me out of the final, make them work bloody hard to do it. I think that’s why I’m so battered and bruised on the legs. I got into a good spot and didn’t want to let it go. A few guys came around me at the end but I managed to do the job.”

In Sunday’s final the boy from Ballarat will come up against distance legend Kenenisa Bekele and Moses Kipsiro in a big line-up.

“My goal will be to go with the guys for as long as I can, to be there with Moses and Kenny. When it gets to that point it’s about digging deep, trying to get every bit out of myself to finish as high as possible,” Birmingham said.

Watch Collis Birmingham's post-race interview here

The 5000m final will be held on Sunday afternoon at 4:25pm local time (00:25 AEST), the final day of competition in Berlin.