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

Hooker won the men's pole vault, while Lapierre overcame a sluggish start to win gold in the long jump, with fellow teammate Mitchell Watt also claiming bronze.

Hooker cleared a championship record of 6.01m, also the leading vault of the season. German duo Malte Mohr and Alexander Straub took silver and bronze, with bests of 5.70 and 5.65m respectively.

After coming close to clearing 6.16m on his third attempt, Hooker was confident that he would one day break Ukrainian Sergey Bubka's 17-year-old mark of 6.15m.

"I think I can continue and can come in the future to break the world record," Hooker said.

"It was also exciting to break the championship record. It feels as good as I have ever jumped in my career.

"They were not good attempts at 6.16, but my 6.01 shows I am there.

"If I am in a competition when I am fresh without the massive qualification process, then the world record is possible."

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 three and four, 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 was rapt with his performance.

"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."

Watt was hampered by an existing groin injury, and was delighted with claiming bronze 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.

Elsewhere, Britain's Dwain Chambers stormed to the 60m crown as six defending champions retained titles and the United States dominated the medals board.

Chambers, who has served a two-year ban for using a banned steroid, blasted to victory in the season lead of 6.48sec ahead of American Michael Rodgers and Antigua's Daniel Bailey.

American duo Bryan Clay (heptathlon) and Christian Cantwell (shot put) and Ethiopian Deresse Mekkonen (1500m) all defended their titles.

Mekkonen's compatriot Meseret Defar won a record fourth consecutive world indoor 3000m title in an impressive showing, while American Lolo Jones (60m hurdles) and Croatian Blanka Vlasic (high jump) also easily retained their titles.

Luke Phillips
AFP-AAP