Hooker Unstoppable as Winning Streak Reaches Five

WAIS scholarship holder Steve Hooker has stretched his remarkable run of victories since the Beijing Olympics to five after claiming wins in Paris last Friday and the Bubka memorial tournament in the Ukraine over the weekend.

It was fitting that Hooker would win in Donetsk as the tournament is named in honour of the greatest vaulter in history. Ukrainian Sergey Bubka holds the world record at 6.15m which is the target, Olympic record holder Hooker is now chasing.

Following wins in New York and Boston, Hooker became only the second man in history to win three tournaments in a row with a best jump over six metres.

Hooker was unable to make that four straight but still claimed a strong win in Donetsk over a field that included Olympic silver medalist Yevgeny Lukyanenko of Russia. Lukyanenko cleared a best jump of 5.82m which was ten centimeters behind Hooker’s best of 5.92m.

Hooker attempted to set a new world record of 6.16m but was again marginally unsuccessful, leaving many pundits to speculate Hooker could break the world record in Australia.

Before that however, Hooker has one more meet in Europe, backing up this Wednesday (Feb 18, 2009) in Stockholm before he returns home to Australia where he will compete in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Hooker cruised to victory in Donetsk clearing a first up jump of 5.62m before moving effortlessly through the heights and jumping a massive clearance on 5.92m for the win.

“I saw that the others were jumping well,” Hooker told AFP.

“The gap was almost too long (after passing at three successive heights) but I thought it would be safer to wait.”

Despite missing the world record, Hooker is satisfied with his tour and is now looking forward to some simple creature comforts.

“I’ve had so many competitions in just the past week that I’m really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed for a few days,” Hooker said.