Seeing the return of international athletics to South Australia for the first time in six years, the Adelaide Track Classic will see Hooker, the reigning Olympic pole vault champion, join Australia’s biggest track and field names including Sally Pearson (Qld, 100m, 200m), John Steffensen (WA, 400m), Jana Pittman (Vic, 400m), Benn Harradine (Vic, discus), Dani Samuels (NSW, discus) and Tamsyn Manou (Vic, 800m).

 

“I’m looking forward to getting my competition season underway at the first leg of the Qantas Australian Athletics Tour in Adelaide this weekend,” Hooker said.

 

“It's great to be back out there jumping alongside the Australian guys, I missed that opportunity last year so it’s good to be back.”

 

“It’s been a promising few weeks.  I jumped five metres off six steps a couple of weeks ago in Perth and the plan for Adelaide is to extend out to eight steps and look for a height of around 5.30m.”

 

The Qantas Australian Athletics Tour is the pinnacle series of events on the domestic athletics calendar, with meets in Perth (11 February), Sydney (18 February) and Melbourne (2 & 3 March) set to follow. The Qantas Melbourne Track Classic is round one of the 15-meet IAAF World Challenge and doubles as the Nomination Trial for the 2012 Olympic Games.

 

Telstra BigPond will be streaming the Adelaide Track Classic live from 4:15pm AEDST. To watch, please click here.

 

The Nine Network will broadcast highlights from the meet at 1:00pm AEDST on Saturday, February 5 2012.