Hooker to Lead Australian Charge

World and Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker will lead a small but world-class Australian contingent in action at the IAAF world indoor championships in Doha, Qatar, next month in his first international appearance since his heroic world titles win.

Twenty-seven-year-old Hooker will be joined at the March 12-14 meet by Australian Flame teammates Mitchell Watt (long jump), Fabrice Lapierre (long jump), Petrina Price (high jump), Scott Martin (shot put) and Sean Wroe (400m), the selection of Martin and Wroe subject to the two athletes achieving village entry standards.

Hooker will enter the Doha meet as hot favourite to add world indoor honours to an already impressive resume that features 2006 Commonwealth, 2008 Olympic and 2009 world championships gold.

Needing only a world indoor title to round out his trophy cabinet, the Western Australian-based vaulter will look to Doha to secure the grand slam of athletics accolades.

Hooker returns to the international arena following an all-conquering run in 2009 that saw the inaugural captain of the Australian Flame raise his career-best mark to 6.06m at the Boston Indoor Games in February and triumph over adversity to claim his maiden world title in August.

In a stirring show of Aussie spirit and determination, Hooker overcame a serious tear to his adductor muscle sustained just 10 days ahead of his world championships campaign to take out pole vault gold in Berlin.

In his only other appearance at a world indoor championships in Valencia, Spain, in 2008, Hooker placed third with a leap of 5.80m and with Olympic and world championships glory now under his belt, will line up as the man to beat in 2010.

– Athletics Australia