Hooker in Form in Germany
Australian Flame captain and world, Olympic, world indoor and Commonwealth Games champion Steve Hooker made a winning return to competition at the DAK Leichtathletik Gala in Wattenscheid, Germany, at the weekend, two weeks out from his return to the IAAF Diamond League action in Lausanne (SUI).
The 27-year-old WAIS athlete, who is living and training in Cologne (GER) in the lead-up to his Commonwealth Games title defence, lined up in Wattenscheid alongside Germany’s top vaulters, all vying for a place on the national team for the upcoming European championships.
Hooker took out the event with a leap of 5.80m ahead of Germans Malte Mohr (5.70m) and Fabian Schulze (5.60m), the Australian just missing out on a clearance at 5.90m.
“It was getting better and better and the jumps at 5.90m looked pretty good,” Hooker said.
“I now intend to jump well in the Diamond League.”
Following appearances in Shanghai, Oslo and New York, Hooker will resume his IAAF Diamond League campaign in Lausanne on Thursday, July 8.
Hooker’s coach, Alex Parnov, who is in Cologne with his star charge and a squad of Australian pole vaulters, said Hooker was nearing his best shape.
“Steve competed like a training session, with a low starting height and trying to jump every bar,” Parnov said.
“He got over 5.80m and we were both happy with his technique. He isn’t far off his best shape, he’s slowly gaining confidence on the big poles and I feel that in a couple of weeks he can jump 6m again.”
Hooker was joined in the action in Wattenscheid by fellow Australian Flame athlete Benn Harradine, who placed second in the men’s discus throw (64.68m) to German Robert Harting (67.62m).
Rounding out a big weekend of athletics right around the world, Australia’s top track athletes with a disability were out in force at the Swiss national championships in Arbon (SUI), posting 13 A- and 15 B-qualifying standards for next year’s IPC world championships.
Headlining the action for Australia were Richard Colman with five A-qualifying results (T53/54 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m), Kurt Fearnley with four (T53/54 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 10,000m) and WAIS IASP scholarship holder Madison de Rozario with two (T53/54 100m, 200m).
Team manager Andrew Dawes said the results were a good sign for Australia’s hopes at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October and the IPC world championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, in January.
“The results from the Swiss meet were very encouraging considering we only arrived four or five days before the competition and mixed it with the best in the world,” Dawes said.
“Most of our competitors have been racing every weekend for the last month. It seemed the longer this meet went on the better out athletes performed. It puts us in a strong position leading into the Commonwealth Games and the IPC world championships early next year.”
– Athletics Australia