Athletics enthusiasts were on a date today with exciting competition between three of the "kings" of pole vaulting, but from inside their home gardens in light of the imposed closure due to the outbreak of the new Corona virus.
Swedish world record holder Armand Duplantes and former French Olympic champion Reno Lavelny managed to jump five meters 36 times in half an hour, while American world champion Sam Kendricks managed to do this on 26 occasions.
The competition in the event, which the World Athletics Federation (World Athletics) broadcast live on social media, was from the gardens of La Villeneuve in Clermont-Ferrand (France), Duplantes in Lafayette (Louisiana), and Kendricks in Oxford (Mississippi, USA).
The 20-year-old wanted Douplantes three more minutes to be able to determine the winner, but 33-year-old Lavellini said he was "finished" and could no longer continue the competition for much longer.
"I really missed the feeling of competition. It is unbelievable, because doing this in my garden gave me the same feeling of competition in a major tournament. It was enthusiastic and I am happy that I am part of it (the challenge)," said La Villeneuve, winner of the 2012 London Olympics gold and Rio 2016 silver.
"I will not do this every week, but I will be happy if I do it once a year," he said.
As for Duplantes, who snatched the world record from Lavigne in particular (6,17 m on February 8 and improved it by one centimeter a week later), he revealed that "I really enjoyed competing against these two young men. I really missed the competition."
The IAAF indicated that it looked forward to more similar challenges "in the parks" in the next few weeks, at a time when most of the world is still in a state of closure as a result of the spread of the "Covid-19" virus.
"It is a wonderful, very interesting and really innovative initiative," said British International Federation chief Sebastian Coe.
Like most sporting events around the world, athletics competitions have stopped because of "Covid-19", such as the Diamond League, which was scheduled to start its season on April 17 in Doha, but it will not start before the fourth of July in London after the postponement of the meetings that were scheduled In the months of April, May and June.