SYDNEY, (Reuters) – World and Olympic champion pole vaulter Steve Hooker has modest expectations when he returns to competition for the first time in nine months at the Diamond League meet in Monaco today.
The 29-year-old spent the last month training in London and will compete for the first time since winning Commonwealth Games gold in New Delhi last October.
The Monaco field will include European champion Renaud Lavillenie of France and former world champion Brad Walker.
“I’ve got pretty limited expectations, the main goal is to get the swing of being in a competition again — it’s been nine months,” Hooker was quoted as saying in a statement from Athletics Australia.
“I’m not thinking about jumping high, I’m thinking about entering the competition at a low height to try and jump a lot of heights.
“That’s the goal, have as many jumps as I can and get back into the swing of competition.”
Hooker believes the competition will be wide open in Monaco.
“It’s the usual suspects, the top guys in the world this year with Brad, Renaud and Malte (Mohr) all in action so they’ll be the main opposition, but as we’ve seen already this year, each one is wide open,” the Beijing Olympic gold medallist said.
“Competitions with good conditions have been few and far between for the guys this year, which explains why the best height is 5.84m from Brad.
“If the conditions are good, which they usually are in Monaco, then I think we can expect to see some good jumping and it will be interesting to see where we are all at.”
