SYDNEY: Olympic medallists Steve Hooker, Sally McLellan and Jared Tallent are rated Australia’s best hopes of adding to the country’s select list of world champions in Berlin.

Australia have won seven gold medals at the world championships but their winning chances in 2009 have been hard hit by the injury withdrawals of defending world champions, Jana Pittman Rawlinson and Nathan Deakes.

But Beijing Olympic pole vault champion Hooker is viewed as the team’s best chance to add a world title to his imposing resume in Berlin.

Hooker, 27, set an Olympic record of 5.96 metres and became Australia’s first-ever field gold medallist when he won in Beijing last August.

Hooker is the second-highest vaulter of all time behind the six-time world champion Sergey Bubka (6.15m) with a best clearance of 6.06m in Boston last year.

“Physically, I’m just better and better each day,” Hooker said on his website recently.

“The injuries I had (a knee problem as a result of a training accident, and strained pectoral muscles) before leaving for Europe are not really a concern any more.

“Every day that I’m here (in Europe) is another solid day of training behind me without having to worry about those things.”

A Hooker victory in Berlin will emulate Dmitri Markov’s world championship triumph in the pole vault at Edmonton in 2001.

The Belarus-born Markov cleared 6.05m to become world champion.

McLellan, a silver medallist behind American Dawn Harper in the 100m hurdles at Beijing, set a new Australian record time of 12.50 seconds in Monaco late last month.

Underlining her form claims for Berlin gold was her finishing ahead of Olympic bronze medallist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada and in-form American Lolo Jones.

“(Breaking the record) shows that I’m on track. Everything is really going to plan,” McLellan, 22, said. “It has built my confidence so much.