Hooker to Compete for First Time in 2011

Published On: 20 July 2011

WAIS athlete and pole vault star Steve Hooker will make his first appearance in competition for 2011 at this Friday’s Monaco Diamond League meet.

The World and Olympic champion has not competed since Delhi last October, where he defended his Commonwealth title, due to a series of knee complications.

For a man who thrives on competition, it came as no surprise Hooker was upbeat about returning to the “adrenaline” atmosphere of competition, with Monaco offering Hooker a selection of the world’s best vaulters.

“It is jumping straight in at the deep end, I guess. But there’s no better place to start than against the best in the world in a competition that’s virtually a world championships final. I’ve been missing the adrenalin of competition, that feeling of being out there and being competitive,” Hooker told the official IAAF website.

Hooker had considered taking that plunge at the earlier Paris Diamond League meet, but instead opted to complete a training block at his European base in London, a decision that in hindsight he feels was vindicated.

“It’s not easy to get a good result: you look at the guys who have been vaulting well all year, they struggled there (Paris).

“I was happy with the decision in the end. On the day of the Paris meeting I did a vaulting session, a good session, which was probably more productive for me in terms of preparation for Daegu (World Championships venue). I was happy to miss that one and now I’m looking forward to one more vault session and getting myself fresh and ready for Monaco.

“It’ll be good. There’s no better place to start. I always go into my first competition aiming to get a big result and that’s how I’m going to be approaching this one. I’m going to go out and have a good crack at it.

As the captain of the Australian Flame team, Hooker also noted the positive performances of his Australian counterparts, believing it will spur him on to better performances.

“There’s already a lot of Australians doing well here, which is motivating for me. There were some great results in Paris and Birmingham which I enjoyed watching.

“Kim Mickle got her world championships and Olympic qualifiers in Paris. That was a really good result for her and she can head home now and do her final preparation in Perth,” Hooker added.

“Sally Pearson’s two runs in Birmingham showed she is ready to go and get it done in a major championship. Sally was unlucky in 2009, hurting her back a few weeks out from the world champs. Then she struck a really high-quality race and finished fifth.”

“This year has gone really well for her. She’s healthy, she looks like she’s in best shape she has ever been in, and she’s hurdling well. She said there’s more to come, so I think we’ll see more improvement.”

Hooker isn’t the only WAIS athlete in action this week, with WA sprinter Ben Offereins (400m) and Hooker’s training partner Alana Boyd also set to compete in Europe, at the Spitzen Leichathletik Luzern in Lucerne, Switzerland on Thursday.