An injury hampered Steve Hooker has qualified for the final of the men’s pole vault at the Athletics World Championships in Berlin, Germany.
The WAIS scholarship holder – who had been under an injury cloud due to an adductor strain in the lead up to the event – completed a clearance at 5.65m at the first attempt to qualify his name for Saturday night’s final.
Hooker was in visible distress after his jump and confirmed he would target a similar one jump policy, should he get medical clearance to compete on Saturday.
“If I do jump (in the final) it will be a similar strategy. Just enter the competition with my first jump and then see how we go.”
“I’ll start at a height that I think is possible to win a medal. If I can do that then I will be happy.”
The 2008 Olympic Champion felt the strain as he entered his run up, but was hopeful the injury would improve with rest.
“I felt it strain a little bit down the runway. I don’t know if anything happened once I got off the ground,” Hooker said straight after the competition, prior to being seen by the Australian team doctor.
“I felt a little tight last night, but this morning it pulled up OK, so hopefully it’s similar situation, I wake up tomorrow and it feels better than today.”
The Australian Flame medical team will assess Hooker’s injury situation over the next three days, with an update expected tomorrow.
