Steven Hooker of Australia on his way to winning gold in the Pole Vault (© Getty Images)
World and Olympic champion Steven Hooker secured the one missing title from his pedigree as he conquered the Pole Vault World Indoor gold medal here in Doha.
It took the Australian three jumps - two clearances and one failure - to win the outdoor World title last year in Berlin; well it took him another three jumps, this time three clearances – one in yesterday’s qualification round and two in today’s final – to make sure his days as Australia’s Golden Boy are far from over.
However, this time around Hooker did not bow out as soon as he pocketed his medal; he stayed on and flew higher. He actually flew higher than anyone had ever done before at these championships, his 6.01m third-time clearance at 6.01m bettering the previous Championships record shared by World record holder Sergey Bubka and Jean Galfione at 6 metres.
“For me this win means a lot,” Hooker said. “I finished third two years ago so my main goal was to win here.”
Since Valencia, Hooker has been the prominent pole vaulter worldwide moving to second on the all-time list with a 6.06m performance last winter and although he suffered a recurrent tendon injury last year his Berlin “one-jump” win has kept him at the top of target list since. “I’ve been working hard in the last two years. I tried to get in the Championships in great shape.”
The Australian was head and shoulders above the rest of the field making his entry at 5.70m and actually taking his first jump amidst the Ethiopians’ vociferous celebrations as Meseret Defar grabbed her fourth consecutive World Indoor title. It may have gone unnoticed to the crowd; it certainly didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the field who had, all bar four, already been eliminated.
Eventually only Malte Mohr of Germany made it at 5.70m and, in what was elsewhere a poor competition, good enough for silver. Bronze went to the second German Aleksander Straub courtesy of a first time clearance at 5.65m. Derek Miles and Konstadinos Filippidis shared fourth on count-back.
Just to be on the safe side, Hooker made his second vault of the day at 5.80m, as expected a massive clearance. While Mohr used his last bullets at a would-be personal best 5.85m (none of his three jumps were actually completed), Hooker patiently waited. He knew the title was his but he wanted more.
The bar was raised at 6.01m and although it took Hooker three tries to eventually erase Bubka from the history book – he has yet to reach the World records chapter – his clearance at this height was a pure work of art.
Hooker then went on to attack the record but his three unsuccessful attempts – although his last effort should be highly commended – proved he still has a little more to improve before he can actually scale the skies.
“All my three jumps at 6.01m were very good. I felt tired at a record 6.16m. It’s good trying to beat a legend,” he concluded referring to Bubka.
“I was not nervous, I just did some changes and adjustments in my run-up. I think if I can continue like this I can come back in the future to break the world record. It was also exciting to break the championships record. It feels as good as I have ever jumped in my career.
“If I am in a competition when I am fresh without the massive qualification, then the world record is possible.”
We can’t wait for that to happen…
Laura Arcoleo for the IAAF
