Headphones screwed on the ears, Renaud Lavillenie does not hear the announcer of the meeting in Rouen announce that in Torun in Poland, thousands of kilometers away, Armand Duplantis has just crossed 6.17 m on the pole, dispossessing him of his world record. The news, he had learned a few moments earlier, watching scrolling messages from friends on his cell phone. In Rouen, the French is in check. "This underperformance affects me," he says. And much more than losing my record because it's been a while since I expected it. Mondo's performance did not destabilize me, on the contrary it boosted me, but it didn't work! "
In four days, the story of Armand "Mondo" Duplantis, only 20 years old, suddenly accelerated. Tuesday in Düsseldorf, for his first attempt against the world record (6.16 m), he left dragging an elbow. At Torun, on his second attempt, he crossed the bar at 6.17 m, touched it on the way down, without knocking it off.
A feat like athletics loves it, even if it erases a Frenchman from the shelves. “The records are made to be broken and we inevitably expect to lose it one day, I did not know when and in a week everything accelerated. I do not have a bitter feeling because it is someone I sincerely appreciate. I'm really happy because he worked for. "
Lavillenie had passed "Tsar" Bubka six years ago
Lavillenie made history in Donetsk on February 15, 2014, beating the old record of Sergei Bubka. The "Tsar" was then in the stands and, as a wink, a passing in the rules of the art, many would have seen Duplantis overtake Lavillenie, in 15 days, during the meeting All Star pole that he organizes on his Clermont lands. But "Mondo" is definitely going very fast. The kid from Louisiana, born to an American father (descendant of French who went to conquer America) and a Swedish mother likes to defy all statistics. In 2018, at only 18, he had become the most European champion in history at the end of what will remain one of the most sumptuous pole competitions, crossing 6.05 m. Renaud Lavillenie, tanned, praised the performance. The respect between the two 13-year-old champions is deep. When he set up his base camp in Europe, "Mondo", who lives the rest of the year in the United States, makes a detour through Auvergne where Lavillenie and his coach Philippe D'Encausse open wide the doors of training at Duplantis and Greg, the dad coach. Mondo and Renaud, had crossed paths for the first time in January 2013, while Mond was still a kid. "I had been told that Renaud was coming to see me, it was a morning suddenly I did not think he was going to get up for me!" Remembers the Swede. In his phone, Renaud kept the video of the successful jump by Duplantis this morning in 2013 ... A jump to 3 80 m, light years from his feat. "He must have received a ton of messages, I would have him overnight on the phone, I don't doubt it for a second," laughs the Frenchman.