After a slight left calf strain interrupted his pre-season training, Olympic pole vault champion Tim Mack has decided to sit out the indoor season.

"He's training, but he's just not where he wants to be in order to step on the track and perform at a level he expects from himself," said Chris Layne, director of communications for Total Sports, the management agency that represents Mack. "He's disappointed he'll miss indoors but is confident it's a responsible decision, and one that will allow him to pick up where he left off in Monaco."

In Athens last August, Mack raised the Olympic record with a last- attempt clearance of 5.95 to strike Olympic gold. Three weeks later, he joined the event's exclusive six-meter club with his 6.01 clearance to win the season-capping World Athletics Final in Monaco. Only 11 others have scaled six meters.

Mack was scheduled to appear at world record holder Sergei Bubka's Pole Vault Stars 2005 meeting in Donetsk, Ukraine, on February 13, the largest international gathering of pole vault talent held indoors each year. He was also forced to cancel his scheduled appearance at the GE Galan Indoor meeting in Stockholm two days later.