Paris (AFP)

Never bury Renaud Lavillenie ... At 34 years old and almost five years after his last jump over 6 m, the 2012 Olympic pole vault champion erased 6.02 m on Sunday during the indoor meeting in Tourcoing, moving back into the world hierarchy.

Eliminated in qualifying for the Doha Worlds (Qatar) in October 2019, Renaud Lavillenie was also dispossessed of his world record a year ago by the breathtaking Armand Duplantis (6.17 then 6.18 m), 13 years his junior.

The heyday of the Frenchman, plagued by recurring physical worries for several years, seemed over.

His return to great form is all the more impressive: after having cleared 5.92 m on January 16 in Bordeaux then 5.95 m on Friday in Karlsruhe in Germany, he spent 6.02 m on Sunday during the indoor meeting. Tourcoing.

It is the first time that he has crossed the symbolic six-meter barrier since his world indoor title in Portland on March 17, 2016, with a performance at 6.02 m as well, for his 20th competition over 6 meters.

The ex-world record holder put it the way: while he had touched, without dropping them, his best bars in recent weeks, the 6.02 m dominated on Sunday were clearly.

In a room that could accommodate up to 200 people, he snatched the best world performance of the year for one centimeter from Duplantis, author of 6.01 m earlier in the day in Düsseldorf (Germany).

- "A beautiful day" -

"It's a beautiful day, it gives me more than pleasure. I knew that I was capable of it given what I was doing in training, that this goal could become reality in the short term", he explained. to AFP.

“It's clearly a return to my best level. People weren't listening to me, but I explained that since the winter of 2017 I had struggles, small injuries that bothered me during my preparations. “I have had no physical problems for six months now, and can train every day, so the work pays off,” he added.

True to his reputation as an insatiable competitor, the Olympic vice-champion allowed himself a failed attempt at 6.20 m on Sunday, which would have been a new world record, while Duplantis had rubbed 6.19 m without success in the afternoon.

This competition replaces Renaud Lavillenie in the world hierarchy, after having been thrown in recent years in the shadow of Duplantis, but also of the American Sam Kendricks and the Pole Piotr Liseck, all authors of several jumps over 6 m.

"I gave myself back the possibility of dreaming of a fifth European indoor title," he explains, referring to the indoor Euro in Torun (Poland) scheduled for March 5-7.

"+ Mondo + has the advantage, he made 6.18 m, 6.15 m last summer. But in a competition things can happen ..."

Before Torun, his reunion with Duplantis will take place from February 6 in Rouen, then three days later, on February 9 in Liévin, and on February 27 in the competition he is organizing in Clermont-Ferrand.

© 2021 AFP