Perth - Burgess, Hooker 5.91, Boyd 4.55

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Outdoors

http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=37176.html


5.91 clearances for Hooker, Burgess in Perth
Sunday 7 January 2007
Steve Hooker and Paul Burgess, the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 ranked pole vaulters, continued their fine jumping into the new year at the Drug Free Track and Field Classic in Perth on Sunday (7).

The pair each topped 5.91, a height that only three vaulters – including the Australian pair – successfully negotiated in 2006.




Paul Burgess of Australia wins the men's Pole Vault in Rome Golden League - 2006
(Getty Images)

With a $30,000 AUD (23,347 USD) bonus on offer for a new Australian record, the pair had the bar raised to 6.06, a height that only World record holder Sergey Bubka had ever cleared. Neither was successful, with Hooker ultimately winning the competition on the countback.

Italy’s Giuseppe Gibilisco, the 2003 World champion and 2004 Olympic bronze medallist, was third with a 5.51 best effort.

There were other notable efforts in this as well in this, the first meeting of the Australian domestic season.

Boyd improves to 4.55

Alana Boyd added 15cm to her career best to win the women's Pole Vault with a 4.55 leap, the fourth best leap ever by an Australian woman. Boyd too attacked the Australian, Oceania and Commonwealth record of 4.62 set by Kym Howe last year, with three solid attempts at 4.63.

Boyd, 22, is the daughter of Olympians Ray and Denise Boyd. Her father was a 12-time national champion in the Pole Vault, and her mother was a former national record holder in the 200m with a 22.32 personal best. Both were also Commonwealth Games champions.

Howe, the reigning Commonwealth champion, was slated to compete as well, but was forced to the sidelines after cutting her foot in an ice bath the day before.

Vicky Parnov, the World junior bronze medallist, was second with a 4.20 clearance.

Athletics Australia’s national series now moves to Sydney next Saturday (13 January) before meets in Brisbane (20 January), and Hobart (9 February). The Telstra A-Series meets will be held in Canberra (27 January), Sydney (17 February) and Melbourne (2 March) ahead of the Telstra Australian Championships in Brisbane (9-11 March).

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 22,00.html

Pole vaulters miss out on reward
Courtney Walsh, Athletics
January 08, 2007
CHAMPION pole vaulters Steve Hooker and Paul Burgess narrowly failed last night in their assault on the Australian pole-vaulting record of 6.05m in Perth.
The world's top-ranked vaulters, pursuing a $30,000 incentive to break Dmitri Markov's record, set in Canada in 2001, had hoped the famed Fremantle Doctor wind would assist their chance of setting a new mark.
But the pair, who both vaulted 4.91m before raising the bar, demonstrated why they are ranked No.1 and No.2 in the world by easily eclipsing the rest of the field, including Italian Giuseppe Gibilisco, the 2003 world champion.

"It is not often in the world you have two people over 4.90m, so it was a great competition," Burgess said. "(It's) a tiny bit disappointing (to miss the money), but really, 6.06m is incentive enough.

"If I jumped 6.06m, I wouldn't be thinking about the $30,000 -- I'd be thinking about becoming the Australian record holder and No.2 in history.

"Even if I do it next week at inter-club, it will be just as good."

Burgess, who won the competition on a countback, came closest to vaulting 6.06m, which is 8cm below Sergei Bubka's world record. He cleared the bar on the vault, but knocked it after falling too close on the way back to the mat. Things may have been different, but for him battling cramp in his left calf muscle.

Hooker, who won the World Cup and Commonwealth Games gold medal last year, struggled early, needing three attempts to clear both 5.71m and 5.91m after missing two weeks of training.

He leaves for the United States in a fortnight for contests in Boston and New York, while Burgess will compete in Europe.

The withdrawal of Commonwealth Games gold medallist Kym Howe robbed the women's pole-vault of its main drawcard, but Queenslander Alana Boyd took full advantage of her absence to vault 4.55m, an A-qualifier for the World Championships in Japan in August.

Boyd, 22, surprisingly failed to qualify for last year's Commonwealth Games, but smashed her previous best of 4.30m yesterday to all but guarantee herself a spot in the Australian squad for Osaka.

It was the fourth-highest vault by an Australian and the same height jumped by Tatiana Grigorieva to win silver at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

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http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0 ... 01,00.html

DESPITE the lure of a $30,000 bonus, the world's two best pole vaulters have failed in a dual attempt to break the Australian record at Perry Lakes Stadium.

Steve Hooker and Paul Burgess ended 2006 as the top two ranked vaulters in the world according to IAAF, and began this season battling each other for the hefty sponsor's bonus on offer for a jump of 6.06m.

That would have been one centimetre higher than Dmitri Markov's mark of 6.05m set in 2001, and the second best jump of all time behind the legendary Sergei Bubka.

Despite good support at the crumbling venue, both men were only able to clear 5.91m, failing with three jumps each at a new Australian mark.

But that head-to-head climax was almost denied when Hooker failed his first two jumps at 5.71m, scraping over with a third - a feat he repeated at 5.91m.

Burgess was more impressive, clearing his first two attempts at the same heights, but although he came close with his third dip at the record, could not secure the cheque or the glory.

``We both cleared 5.91m - and it is not often in the world you have that ... so it was a really awesome competition, and 6.06m is not far away from one of us,'' Burgess said.

``6.06m is incentive enough - if I jumped that I wouldn't be thinking about the money. I would be thinking about becoming the Australian record holder and the number two in history.

``Even if I do it next week in interclub where there is no money it will still be just as good.

``It could happen at any time, you have just got to get a bit lucky - at that height you have got to have everything go right.''

In the other quality competition of the afternoon, Queensland's Alana Boyd took a huge leap towards breaking into the elite circle of women pole vaulters, smashing her personal best with a clearance at 4.55m.

Buoyed by a success at the world championship qualification height of 4.45m, Boyd went one better with a massive jump on her second attempt.

Three attempts at 4.63m - one centimetre higher than Kym Howe's Commonwealth record - were unsuccessful, but notice was served to the Howe, of Perth, who had withdrawn from the competition.