Sergey Bubka, the undisputed king of the pole vault, has declared that Australia’s Steve Hooker has what it takes to break the world record of 6.15m he set in his Ukraine homeland in 1993.

Speaking from Donetsk, where he honed the vaulting skills that saw him rule the event from the early 1980s to the late 90s, Bubka said he would not be upset if Hooker wiped his mark from the record books.

“I finished as an athlete a long time ago. It is important for the pole vault that we now have among the men a strong athlete who can try to set up records,” Bubka told The Australian.

“Steve has already achieved the second-best result in history. His results show he has good technique, and the skills and ability to jump over six metres consistently.

“I am ready for the day — it is normal that there will be someone better than me.”

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Here is some excellent coverage of the Men’s Pole Vault at the Reebok Indoor Games ’09. As all pole vaulters know by now, Steve Hooker took some pretty good attempts at surpassing Sergei Bubka’s long standing 6.15m world record.

Also competing were Derek Miles, Darren Niedermeyer, Giovanni Lannaro, Paul Burgess, Tim Mack.