Just in the rehabilitation phase after his hamstring injury, Renaud Lavillenie will not participate this Thursday in the traditional All Star Perche in Clermont-Ferrand that he is organizing.
But the Olympic champion from London, 37, still hopes to play his 4th Olympic Games this summer in Paris.
Operated on September 14 for a partial rupture of the hamstring tendon, the pole vaulter knows that he is in a race against time to qualify.
He hopes to be able to take out his poles and jump around mid-March.
“I started running again a while ago.
I started training again this week.
I'm not jumping yet, I'll start pole vaulting again in 3-4 weeks.
For the moment I'm doing more of a sprint,” explained Renaud Lavillenie, guest of the Super Moscato Show this Wednesday on RMC.
Also read Pole vault: how to explain Armand Duplantis' centimeter by centimeter progression?
To hope to compete in the Olympics, he will have to achieve the minimum, i.e. at least 5.82 m, by June 30.
“My goal is to resume at the end of May to have five competitions until the French Championships,” he adds.
I only need one, if it matches from the start then... I won't let it fall behind, I have to gain momentum.
If there are four of us doing the minimums, behind that we will have to select at the French Championships.
The objective is to achieve the minimums as soon as possible and to rank in the top 3 of the French Championships.
I know that all the experience and mastery that I have, few have, and that allows me to still do a lot of things.
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Renaud Lavillenie is already focusing on his recovery and does not want to skip ahead.
“The Olympic podium?
I don't even think about it at all.
This is not the topic at the moment.
If I ever qualify for the Olympics, I will then think about the final competition of the Olympics and then if I ever go to the final, I will think of nice things like that, but for the moment each thing in its time.
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The Swede Armand Duplantis will headline the All Star Perche this year again.
In 2023, he set a world record there, clearing a bar at 6.22 m, which he has since increased to 6.23 m.