Athletics Australia – News – DAY 1: Samuels advances but disappointment for Hooker

Australia’s defending world champions were both in action on the first morning of day one but while Dani Samuels qualified for tomorrow night’s discus final, Steve Hooker failed to do the same in the pole vault.

Samuels was in Group A of the discus qualifying and on her first throw recorded 59.77m, while Nadine Muller (GER), Yarelis Barrios (CUB) and Jian Tan (CHN) all went beyond the automatic qualifying mark of 62m. Muller’s heave of 65.54m was the furthest by any athlete in qualifying.

When the defending champion returned to the circle she improved to 60.05m, which would be her best attempt with the third reaching 59.98m.

Samuels was then forced to wait until the second group of discus throwers came out for qualifying, in the knowledge that she would make the final if no more than six athletes from Group B threw beyond 60.05m.

Nine athletes from the second group had season best’s beyond the 62m mark, but only two managed it in Daegu Stadium with another three heaving further than Samuels. That result left Samuels placed 11^th and through to the final.

After the second group of qualifying, Samuels said: “I was at the warm up track during that second group of competition. I did everything I would’ve done had I got the automatic qualifier because I had to be ready for the final.

“I didn’t do it the easy way but it doesn’t matter now. Hopefully I will have a good three attempts tomorrow, and then another three.

“I have confidence in my training and preparation.  I hope to bring a bit more timing and speed in the circle tomorrow and will have a think about that today with my coach. We’ll have a debrief and see what we can improve for tomorrow.

“There’s no wind over the discus in the stadium so it doesn’t add to the lift at all. Even a bit of swirly wind would lift it a little bit, but we’re surrounded by hills and a high-density area. It just means that I will really have to get under it and nail it tomorrow.”

Not one athlete in the pole vault was required to attempt the automatic qualifying mark of 5.70m, with eight through on 5.65m, including Frenchmen Renaud Lavillenie and Romain Mesnil, and a further three on 5.60m.

However, Hooker entered and failed to clear 5.50m, a height which was enough for five men to make the final, including Pawel Wojciechowski (POL), who only two weeks ago cleared a world-lead of 5.91m.

Hooker said: “I was not feeling good on the run-up today, but physically I think I am in good shape, which is very important to me. The last two years I was ending the season injured.

“Practically, this is the end of the season for me and I will have a rest, take a mental break and will get back to training.“

“Mentally it wasn’t there, I had no confidence in what I was doing out there, I felt kind of lost on the runway. It’s tough to take off and tough to get jumps done when you’re in that way.”

“I had a very rushed preparation this year, I didn’t do anywhere near as many jumps in training as I would normally do before a season and only two competitions.

“There’s no excuses for what happened today, three run throughs at 5.50 at world champs is not on, I would expect more from myself than that. It’s disappointing that it happened that way, especially with 5.50 getting through to the final.

“If I have to take a positive out of it it’s that I’m healthy so finishing the year healthy, it’s the first time I’ve done that since 2008 which means I’m going to get an early start on my preparation for next year and get the jumps in that I missed this year.”

In the only final during the morning session, Kenya made it a one-two-three in the women’s marathon. Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat won in 2:28:43, followed by Priscah Jeptoo (2:29:00) and Sharon Jermutai Cherop (2:29:14).

Saturday 27 August
Evening Session
21:00 (22:00 AEST)
10,000m: Eloise Wellings (NSW)

For more information on the 2011 IAAF world championships including Australian Flame team information, full results, athlete profiles, news and results, please visit athletics.com.au.

IAAF world championships
Daegu (KOR)
August 27 – September 4, 2011

 Athletics Australia – News

 

The 2011 IAAF World Championships are LIVE on SBS TWO with daily highlights from 27 August – 5 September.