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HOOKER -The Flame captain said: “I’ve gotten through a couple competitions and gotten through a lot of training over the last couple of months, so that’s the big positive for me, coming out of this season that I’m back jumping and getting through the season fine. ©Victah Sailer
Athletics Australia – News – 1 DAY TO GO: Defending champions set for the challenge
The Flame’s two defending world champions, Steve Hooker and Dani Samuels, will be in action on the opening day of competition and both believe the ability to be a proven championship performer is the key to success.
Hooker won gold in Berlin, two years ago, with only his second jump in the final. His clearance of 5.90m ensured he added a world championship title to his Olympic gold.
However, since defending his Commonwealth Games crown, in New Delhi last October, the world indoor champion has been hampered by injury, with his first competition only coming at the end of July.
The Flame captain said: “I’ve gotten through a couple competitions and gotten through a lot of training over the last couple of months, so that’s the big positive for me, coming out of this season that I’m back jumping and getting through the season fine. At the moment it looks like I’ll finish the season healthy, which will be the first time in a couple of years.
“Ideally I would’ve liked to have had full preparation being healthy all the way through and done a couple more comps in the lead up.
“I’m probably at a point now where my jumps a bit inconsistent, I can be anywhere in a 50cm range form a 5.40 and a 5.90. I reckon, anywhere in that range depending on the day and how it comes together. I’m realistic that it’s going to be a real fight for me out there.
“In Berlin I was in the position where I actually had something wrong with me physically but I was mentally confident in my jump and knew I could put together jumps when I needed to, so right now it’s the exact opposite of that.
“Physically now I’ve got myself into pretty good shape but I just haven’t had the jumps to back that up. I haven’t been in shape for long enough where I’ve been able to get the number of jumps I’ve needed to.”
European champion Renaud Lavillenie (FRA), who won bronze in Berlin, has dominated the pole vault in Hooker’s absence this season, including a jump of 5.90m to win the Diamond League meet in Monaco. It is Poland’s Pawel Wojciechowski, however, who holds the world-lead of 5.91m which he cleared in Szcezin (POL) only 11-days ago.
Hooker continued: “I’m going to have to try and battle my way through this comp and my whole attitude is going to be just to stay alive, and that’s the cool thing about my event, you get three attempts at every height and I just have to make one of those work.
“I’d like to have jumped 5.90 like a couple of the guys have in the lead up because that gives you the confidence going in that you’ve already done it before.
“I’ve done this for long enough to know that I’ve got results that I didn’t think I’d ever get. I’ve felt like there’s no way I can jump 5.90 and then somehow it comes out and just happens.
“I know how quickly things can turn around and how quickly you can find an oldfeeling that you’ve had before, but you don’t have that happen unless you’re optimistic about it and stay positive.”
Samuels arrived in Berlin with seven girls in the field having thrown further than her that season and somewhat off the radar, despite being the newly crowned Summer Universiade champion.
But at only 21 years of age, the Sydney-born athlete threw a personal best of 65.44m in the penultimate round to steal the victory and firmly confirm herself as a world-beater.
She said: “We’ve tried to stick to what I did in 2009 because that really did work, just the phases we went through, how many competitions I had, leading into Berlin.
“It’s pretty much been the same [as in 2009], I’ve had four competitions, tried to mirror them on 20 days out, 24 days out, that type of thing.
“What works for me is to forget about everyone else and forget about who’s thrown what this year, it doesn’t matter.”
Samuels’s main opponents will be China’s Yanfeng Li, who holds the world-lead of 67.98m, German Nadine Muller and Cuban Yarelis Barrios, who is the reigning world and Olympic silver medallist.
Samuels added: “World championships is a totally different ball game, so I’ve just been focusing on training, the last few days have been really good. If I can just get a little bit more speed and really nail one, I feel like I should get a PB (personal best).
“The last two years has been interesting, just competing in Diamond Leagues for one thing. I haven’t actually won a Diamond League yet, I’ve got second, third, fourth and fifth.
“The Diamond Leagues are a good practice for competing against those girls that you will compete against at world champs regularly. I think they know that I thrive on a big competition, a medal motivates the hell out of me.
“I will do anything that I can to win a medal on that day, so I think they arewary that major competitions is where they will have to look out for me.”
For more information on the 2011 IAAF world championships including Australian Flame team information, athlete profiles, news and results, please visit athletics.com.au.
IAAF world championships
Daegu (KOR)
August 27 – September 4, 2011
Athletics Australia – News
