OSLO: French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie goes into his sixth outdoor competition of the season at Wednesday’s Diamond League meet unbeaten but wary that his rivals might finally start to pressurise him. The Olympic champion and recently-crowned world record holder, his 6.16m busting Sergey Bubka’s long-standing record, said his goal was to stay focused ahead of this summer’s European Championships in Zurich. “Of course, it’s a good start to the season because I’ve finished first in each of my five competitions,” Lavillenie said.
“I want to stay focused now for Zurich,” said the two-time winner in Oslo (2010 and 2012), adding that German Tim Lobinger’s Bislett meet record of 6.00m could be under threat.
“If there’s a good wind, there’s maybe a chance, we’ll see how it will be. 5.90 or 6.00m would be a good performance.” His dominance on the global circuit and lack of real competition, he argued, had not yet hindered him when it came to knuckling down to performing. “It’s not so difficult,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of other vaulters will be getting close to 5.80m very soon. “In any case, I’m focused on myself, doing good performances and making good marks.”
Lavillenie again defended his decision to go straight for Bubka’s world record, rather than edging up centimetre by centimetre. “Everything was good vaulting at 6.00m. Making the jump from 6 to 6.15m, everything good changed to everything kind of perfect,” he smiled.
“It was just a question of me handling a bigger pole. I was more efficient and was not losing energy as I was before.” more
