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Hooker clears 6.06m in Boston

 

Hooker clears 6.06m in Boston

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AOC
Hooker clears 6.06m in Boston

Olympic champion Steve Hooker has broken the Australian, Oceania and Commonwealth pole vault record in leaping to victory at the Boston Indoor Games in the United States.

Hooker cleared 6.06 metres to become the second highest vaulter in history

Olympic champion Steve Hooker has broken the Australian, Oceania and Commonwealth pole vault record in leaping to victory at the Boston Indoor Games in the United States.

Hooker cleared 6.06 metres to become the second highest vaulter in history, whilst adding on centimetre to the national record of 6.05m set by Dmitri Markov when he won the world title in Edmonton in 2001.

And in other results, Olympic silver medallist Sally McLellan broke a 22-year-old Australian record in the 60m hurdles and Sarah Jamieson finished third in the women’s mile.

Just as he did in his thrilling victory in Beijing where he made third-and-final attempt clearances on four occasions, Hooker’s Australian record leap also came on a clutch final attempt.

Only the legendary Ukrainian Sergey Bubka has jumped higher – holding the world outdoor record of 6.14m and world indoor record of 6.15m. For the second week in a row, Hooker lifted the bar to 6.16m in attempt to set an undisputed world mark.

Americans Derek Miles (5.72m) and Darren Niedermeyer (5.52m) filled the placings, with Hooker’s training partner Paul Burgess finishing fifth with 5.37m.

“I had a massive clearance at 5.87 which gave me a lot of confidence,” the 26-year-old West Australian said from Boston. “I had a bit of a touch on the bar on the way over at 6.06 and then moved up to a new, bigger and stiffer pole for the world record jumps."

Hooker had three close attempts at the world record in New York last week, but felt he needed a bigger pole in his bag. He collected a new ‘Pacer’ pole which was made specifically for him during the week and had the first chance to use it in his quest to leap past Bubka.

“At first I struggled a bit with the new pole. It felt a bit funny in my hands. It just felt bigger and stiffer, so on my first attempt I just ran though.

“The second jump was better; at least I got off the ground. My second and third jumps were good jumps, I just had the uprights too close. The third attempt was the best and I dragged the bar off with my arm on the way over. Hooker said it was great to get the chance to leap with the new pole, something he feels is essential to his world record aspirations.

“It’s a pole you can only jump on in competition when the circumstances are right. You can’t replicate it in training so it was a good experience to give it a ride.”

Hooker’s leap adds 4cm to the personal best of 6.01m he set in New York, and captures the Australian mark set by one of his heroes in 2001 world champion Dmitri Markov.

Having now produced back-to-back six metre leaps in his first two competitions since his victory in Beijing, Hooker now leaves the US for Europe where he will contest another three meets before returning to Australia for the Sydney Track Classic (Saturday 28 February), World Athletics Tour Melbourne (Thursday 5 March) and Australian Championships in Brisbane (19-21 March).

In other Australian results, Olympic silver medallist Sally McLellan concluded her US tour with a new Australian indoor record over 60m. McLellan clocked 7.30 in the short dash to finish 6th in a race won by Lisa Barber of the US in a swift 7.19 seconds.

McLellan sliced .02 off the 1987 national record set by pocket-rocket Di Holden at the world indoor championships in Indianapolis - a record set just five months after the 22-year-old Queenslander was born.

McLellan will now return to Australian in preparation for her domestic battles with Commonwealth champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton in Sydney and Melbourne.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sarah Jamieson ran a brave race to finish third in the women’s mile. Jamieson led after the pace-maker stepped of the track and held the front position to final 100m before being overrun by American Lindsey Gollo (4:27.90) and Ethiopian Mestawot Tadese (4:28.18. Jamieson’s time of 4:29.47 was just outside the national record of 4:28:03 she set at the same venue in 2007.

Athletics Australia

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