OLYMPIC pole vault champion Steve Hooker's underwhelming London Games build-up has continued.

The Australian cleared 5.42m to finish sixth at an event in Lille that was won by Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie, the hot favourite to take Hooker's Olympic crown in London.
It was a good deal better than his best of 5.20m at a street meet in Munich's Odeon Square on Tuesday, but a long way off what will be required to win a medal next month at the Games.
Hooker's 5.42m mark was 10cm lower than the height at which Lavillenie even entered competition.
And it could have been a lot worse.
Hooker had a heart-in-mouth moment when he failed to plant his pole at 5.22m and left himself with a do-or-die third and final vault at the distance, which he just managed.
Lavillenie won with a best of 5.82m, firing another broadside at potential rivals for the Olympic vaulting crown just two days after winning the Oslo Diamond League meet.
Since sealing his spot on the Australian Olympic team with a clearance of 5.72m at his special indoor training facility in Perth last month, Hooker has struggled.
He did not register a clearance in difficult wet conditions at the May 20 Diamond League meet in Shanghai and was equal-sixth at last week's Rome Diamond League with 5.42m.
Lavillenie tops the 2012 world indoor (5.95m) and outdoor (5.90m) rankings.


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