PARIS, July 6, 2014:French indoor world record holder Renaud Lavillenie needed only one successful vault to secure first place in the men’s pole vault at the Paris Diamond League meeting at the Stade de France on Saturday.
Lavillenie, unbeaten in 15 previous meetings this year both indoors and outside, delayed his entry until the bar had reached 5.70 metres. The competition had already begun while he was being paraded around the track on the back of a car accompanied by Brazilian samba dancers and drummers.
He soared over the bar with his first attempt on a cool, windy evening but then failed with all three tries at 5.83, winning on a countback ahead of Brazil’s Augusto Dutra and fellow-Frenchman Kevin Menaldo
