At Daegu in South Korea, World and Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker failed to qualify for the world championships final on Saturday. The Australian started his season only at the end of July after two injury-ravaged years. His lack of preparation showed as he failed to get into the air in three attempts at clearing 5.50 metres to bring a premature end to his title defence.Hooker had declared himself fit after knee injury but under prepared for just his third competition of the year, a contrast with his position at Berlin two years ago when he cleared 5.90 metres with a groin strain to win gold. The 29-year-old's leap of 6.06 metres indoors in the 2009 season was the second highest in history, behind retired world record holder Sergei Bubka.