Rouen (AFP)
Pole vault world record holder Armand Duplantis soared to 6.03m on Saturday evening achieving the best world performance of the year at the Rouen meeting, ahead of Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie who failed at this height.
The pole vault prodigy had started his competition by failing at 5.60 m, before succeeding in successively clearing 5.83 m, 5.93 m and 6.03 m in the Kinderarena in Rouen, empty of spectators.
The 21-year-old Swede then asked for a 6.19-meter bar to try to break his own world record (6.18m), but he failed despite encouragement from his competitors.
The 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie for his part passed 5.60 m, 5.83 m and 5.93 m in his first attempts, before failing three times at 6.03 m.
The Frenchman, 34, had crossed the mythical 6m barrier for the first time since 2016 (6.02m) at Tourcoing the previous weekend, which had propelled him to the top of the world record, before be dislodged by Duplantis on Saturday.
“We had to manage the recovery from last week and the pace of competitions with big bars,” responded Lavillenie, hot in the room.
"It would have been nice to redo 6m today", he added.
"We are that at the very beginning of February, there is still time to continue to climb," he added.
American Sam Kendricks, double world champion in 2017 and 2019, was more arduous and had to settle for 4th place (5.83 m), behind his compatriot Chris Nielsen (5.93 m).
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