A new solid – phase extraction sorbent is developed based on stepwise anchoring of two ligand molecules for the determination of copper, zinc, lead and cadmium in drinking water by flame AAS. Amberlite XAD-2 functionalized with 4´-(2-hydroxyphenylazo)-3´-methyl-1´-phenyl-2´-pyrazolin-5´-one (HPAPyr) was utilized for preconcentration/separation of these elements. The sorbent was prepared by two successive azo coupling reactions. Firstly, 2-aminophenol was anchored to the amino groups in the resin resulted from nitration followed by reduction. Then, the resulted 2-aminophenol functionalized resin was further diazotized and coupled to pyrazolone compound and the final product HPAPyr-XAD-2 was characterized by IR and elemental analysis. The optimum pH range for sorption, shaking time, exchange capacity, sample flow rate, preconcentration factor and interference from co-existing ions are investigated.  All metal ions are quantitatively desorbed from the resin by 4.5 mol l^-1 nitric acid solution. The sorbent provides limit of detection within the range 0.9 – 3.3 µg l^-1 and concentration factor up to 250.  The procedure is validated by analysis of certified material NIST-SRM 1577b.  Application to drinking water showed satisfactory results with relative standard deviation RSD ≤ 8.5 %.