Difficult conditions for World Athletics Tour - Melbourne

(Thursday, 5 March 2009)

Olympic champion Steve Hooker, battled gusty winds to sail over 5.80m and collect his seventh consecutive win in 2009 at the World Athletics Tour Melbourne.

Hooker's clearance was enough to hold off a quality field of local and international challengers including Olympic silver medallist, Russian Yevgeniy Lukyanenko's whose 5.60m leap fell well short of Hooker’s standard.

With victory in the bag, Hooker raised the bar to the coveted six-metre mark but had no luck in his three attempts at the height.
“The tailwind helped me move through the poles in my set and the last pole I attempted was the biggest pole I’ve attempted all season,” Hooker said.

“I felt it was there, but the fact that the wind was a little blustery just made it a little difficult to predict where to put the stands.

“We probably had the best conditions of all the events, we generally had a tailwind all night. It was a little bit blustery and a bit cold, but the rain stayed away and it was about as good as we could have hoped for I think.”

With thanks to Athletics Australia.