Hooker Set for Oslo Meet
World, Olympic, world indoor and Commonwealth Games champion Steve Hooker will tomorrow night reprise his IAAF Diamond League campaign in Oslo, Norway, two weeks after opening his account with a shock defeat in Shanghai.
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 Institute of Sport star will again face Mohr on the runway tomorrow night, 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 this Friday night 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.
– Athletics Australia