Hooker continues pole vault domination

Australian Steve Hooker came within a centimetre of his Beijing Olympic record in the pole vault, while Asafa Powell and Xavier Carter were upstaged by a local runner in the 400m at the Sydney Track Classic yesterday.

Hooker attempted a personal best effort of 6.10m and came close on his third and final attempt as he continued to chase down Sergey Bubka's world record 6.15m.

Hooker, 26, has been chipping away at the Ukrainian's 16-year milestone and has been unbeaten since his Beijing Olympic record of 5.96m last year, winning six consecutive competitions over the past two months.

He vaulted a personal best 6.06m in Boston, the second highest leap of all time.

The Olympic champion's clearance of 5.95m yesterday put him well ahead of Beijing silver medallist Evgeniy Lukyanenko, of Russia (5.45m).

The world championships in Berlin in August are the main target for Hooker this year and he is confident he will ultimately break the world record.

"In 2009 I'm hoping to jump well at the world championships but jump technically well everywhere and get consistently high results," he said.

Jamaica's former 100m world record holder Powell and American Carter garnered most of the headlines ahead of the 400m event, but it was Australian Olympic semi-finalist Sean Wroe, who won in 45.28 seconds.

Carter was second in 45.75, with Powell, warming up for his more favoured 100m event in Melbourne next Thursday, was fourth in 45.94 after a scintillating final 100m.