"It's been two years since I jumped that high." In the absence of a new world record from the Swedish Armand Duplantis, who failed at 6m19 after having largely crossed 6m01, the good surprise of the All Star Perche came from Renaud Lavillenie, Sunday in Clermont-Ferrand. Certainly, Duplantis, the 20-year-old prodigy who has broken the world record twice in the past 15 days, 6.17 am on February 8 in Torun (Poland) and at 6.18 am seven days later in Glasgow (Scotland), won the competition for Clermont-Ferrand with disconcerting ease. But the Frenchman, his 13-year-old elder, who had on Sunday the double cap of competitor and organizer of the meeting, which he created from scratch on his Auvergne lands in 2016, took second place in "his" competition , crossing 5.94m the first time, a bar he had not crossed since the European Championships in Berlin in 2018.
"I am very satisfied," said the ex-world record holder at the end of the competition. "I knew that 5m94 would be the maximum, it's been two years since I jumped as high, and I know that with such a bar, in August, the Olympic medal will not be far". Lavillenie then attempted a 6m01 bar, failing three times. But the Clermontois, if it lacked freshness, was far from being ridiculous at this height. "I felt that I was started by the previous jumps at 5.80m and 5.87m," he said. Duplantis then tried to beat its own brand again, established on February 15 in Glasgow (Scotland), but failed to cross a bar at 6.19m.
❌ Armand Duplantis misses his third attempt at ... 6m19! We almost lived in an anthology competition as the prodigy of the pole vault failed to beat a new record at #AllStarPerche! His contest ends with the applause of Renaud Lavillenie pic.twitter.com/yCQTwnTd9W
- RMC Sport (@RMCsport) February 23, 2020"Make some noise," he asked some 5,000 spectators before setting off. But he failed twice with a harder pole than in his two previous records, before resuming the same as in his last exploits and failing narrowly, despite the advice of Lavillenie, appreciated: "he shed some light on some details ”. "I also gave Mondo some advice, but I was especially afraid of taking 30 cm in the face, there it is only 7 cm and frankly, it feels good", concluded the former record holder of the world (6.16 m in 2014). With six pole vaulters at 5.80m, the competition lived up to its promise. The meeting "is only five years old, but currently it's the best in the world for pole vaulting," said Lavillenie. American Sam Kendricks took 3rd place with a jump to 5.87m. The world champion in Doha could not cross 6.01m, after missing 5.94m. Among the ladies, the American Sandi Morris crossed a bar at 4.80m before failing at 4.93m. Frenchwoman Marion Lotout finished in 7th place with 4.46m.
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