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Hooker pursues vault heights


Len Johnson
January 27, 2007

STEVE Hooker has met Sergey Bubka, but he has not had a deep and meaningful chat with him.

That may change, soon, as Hooker believes that the competition in the pole vault between him, fellow Australian Paul Burgess and American Brad Walker could soon push them close to the great man's world record of 6.15 metres.

Hooker ranked No. 1 in the world last year; Walker was the only man to clear six metres in 2006 and Burgess was the only man to do it in 2005.

Hooker and Walker renew their rivalry at the Boston Indoor Games today , and Hooker believes that they will soon start pushing towards heights previously reached only by Bubka, Maksim Tarasov and Dmitri Markov (both of whom cleared 6.05).

"The way things are going, Brad, Paul and myself are going to be having a crack at it (the world record height) in the near future," Hooker said before departing this week.

Hooker and Burgess both cleared 5.91 in Perth on January 7. "It was a good start," Hooker said. "Technically, I feel like I'm vaulting as well as last year already."

Hooker hopes the stable indoor conditions will enable him to get good results on a trip on which he also competes in New York and Bubka's home-town meeting in Donetsk in the Ukraine. Burgess holds the Australian indoor record at 5.80.

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_spor ... _aim_high/

Hooker, Stuczynski aim high
Pole vaulters have records in sights
Steve Hooker wants to better the world pole vault record set by Sergei Bubka. (MATTHEW J. LEE/GLOBE STAFF)
By Frank Dell'Apa, Globe Staff | January 27, 2007
Records are made to be broken, but it takes time to do so when they have been set by performers who transcend the event, such as pole vaulters Sergei Bubka and Stacy Dragila.
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But Steve Hooker and Jenn Stuczynski, who will compete in the Boston Indoor Games at the Reggie Lewis Track Center tonight, are on the trail of records and they appear ambitious and young enough (they're both 24) to surpass Bubka's world mark and Dragila's US mark indoors.
"My focus is on the major championships, but long term someone is going to break the world record, with the technical advances and improved poles," Hooker said. "[Bubka] was an outstanding athlete and when he left the record at [20 feet 2 inches], he gave us a chance. He could have [vaulted higher]; in '97 in Athens, he cleared it by a foot."
Hooker, a former Australian Rules football prospect, is involved in a sophisticated training program with coach Alex Parnov in Perth, which is becoming a haven for vaulters.
"Even the interclub, local, and state championships are very competitive," Hooker said. "But what it does is, competing against the best, it sets us up to be ready for other competitions."
Stuczynski has emerged as the US heir apparent to Dragila, having been recruited by coach Rick Suhr to become a pole vaulter while kicking a soccer ball. Stuczynski cleared the top six US heights last year and went 15 feet 5 inches, then failed three times last week in Reno going for Dragila's American record of 15-9 1/4.
"People do compare me to [Dragila] and they are going to do it for a long time," Stuczynski said. "Everyone is kind of in her shadow in the US, but once the record is broken it will help. She was pretty much it when I started. I've never seen her compete live, only on tape, so it's hard to model yourself on something you have never seen."
Stuczynski's training setup is less than state of the art; she works out in a Quonset hut in Rochester, N.Y.
"The other day I looked at the thermometer and it was 4 degrees Celsius [inside]," Stuczynski said. "You kind of have to body open the door. The windows are boarded up with plywood in the winter, so there isn't any light. My coach says it's heated and I say it's not. You get used to it after a while. It's kind of barbaric in some sense but it's perfect for me. So, it's a treat to have light and heat."
Hooker, whose personal best is 19-6 3/4, is the son of two elite athletes (Bill and Erica) and has long aspired to compete in the Olympics. But Hooker also keeps things in perspective by working full time for a real estate developer.
"We try to buy land and do million-dollar deals," Hooker said. "I had a gun pulled on me once. It was a farmer and he was not happy to see us on his land. He was a bit of a character. We told him we had been sent by a real estate agent. He was not expecting to see us but I am not used to seeing guns in Australia."
Stuczynski, who was a basketball star at Roberts Wesleyan College, had become almost obsessed with vaulting but has tried to find balance recently.
"I still like to go to the local meets but one thing is, you can't do all the meets," Stuczynski said. "We did 40 or 50 meets last year. When I went to Europe, they told me I was going to wear myself out. Last year, I wanted to jump every day, but I learned you have to save your body and relax a little bit."
Craig Mottram took a dramatic victory in the 2-mile run in last year's Boston Indoor Games, but he is lowering expectations this time. "I backed off a little bit in these races," said Mottram, who has been training in London, competed in Madrid last month, and plans to run in the Millrose Games next week. "Last year, the Commonwealth Games were six weeks away and I was getting ready for them, I was mentally prepared and that is why I ran so well."