Hooker in elite company

World and Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker has been named alongside sprint superstar Usain Bolt as one of the top five male athletes in world track and field according to the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Hooker and Bolt join distance runner Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia), sprinter Tyson Gay (USA) and javelin specialist Andreas Thorkildsen (Norway) as finalists in the running for the 2009 IAAF World Athlete of the Year honour.

Twenty-seven-year-old Hooker hasn't taken a backward step since claiming gold at the Beijing Olympics last year, setting a new national record of 6.06m in Boston on February 7 and stunning the athletics world with his injury-defying performance to take out the world championship in Berlin in August.

Hooker said he was thrilled to be named amongst such a talented shortlist of athletes.

"It's pretty amazing to be named alongside Usain and Kenenisa, who both collected multiple world championships this year," Hooker said.

"Although, I reckon like most people who line up in a race against Usain Bolt, we're racing for second here."

"Still, Tyson Gay did run 9.71 to break the American record when he finished second to Usain in Berlin so there is no disgrace in that."

"It's a massive honour when you look at the names on the list to think that the world experts of athletics believe I am in the top five. It's pretty satisfying."

The five finalists were announced following a three-week poll of athletics identities worldwide, whose nominations gave rise to the final candidates for the international federation's top honour .

The winners of the 2009 World Athlete of the Year awards (male and female) will be announced at the 2009 World Athletics Gala in Monaco on November 22, 2009.