Angers, France – Confirming his superb form, Renaud Lavillenie won the Pole Vault with a 5.85m leap while Christophe Lemaitre won the sprint double for the third consecutive year to highlight the French national championships over the weekend.
Lavillenie remained unbeaten this season in five outdoor competitions following his World Indoor title in March. On Sunday (17), his dominance over the discipline was obvious as he opened his competition at 5.62m, a height that Romain Mesnil had to clear to get second place. Disturbed by the swirling winds in the Stade du Lac du Maine, he managed to vault 5.77m with his second attempt. Full of confidence, he was successful at 5.85m but was disappointed to not improve his 5.90m world leading mark as he missed 5.95m three times.
“It’s frustrating because I feel I was ready to do it, I just needed to have better wind conditions,” the winner said. “However, the good series continues, I’m surprising myself to be able to jump these heights at each meeting.”
Indeed, his lowest mark this year is 5.82m, which is so far the performance set by the second best pole vaulters in the World, Germans Björn Otto and Malte Mohr. “I’m not planning to have a peak form at European Championships or Olympic Games. I’m just looking to be able to duplicate high quality performance in any conditions.”
By Pierre-Jean Vazel for the IAAF
From http://www.iaaf.org/Mini/OLY12/News/NewsDetail.aspx?id=65365
