Renaud Lavillenie finished second in the pole vault in Caen behind Thibaut Collet, the new French champion.
Three weeks before the World Championships in Eugene (United States), Renaud Lavillenie was deprived of the title of French champion by young Thibaut Collet on pole vault, after a windy competition, in Caen on Sunday.
Lavillenie (35) and Collet (23) topped out at 5.75m, a bar they both passed on the last try, but the 2012 Olympic champion and 2016 Olympic runner-up had only passed 5, 60m only on his third attempt.
Since his first title of French outdoor champion in 2010, this is only the third time that the 35-year-old Clermontois has not climbed to the top step of the national podium (after 2011 and 2021).
In the meantime, it is Collet who has the best French performance of the season, with 5.82 m, one centimeter ahead of Lavillenie. Thibaut Collet, already crowned French indoor champion this winter, is preparing to participate in his first World Championships and first European Senior Championships (in Munich from August 15 to 21) this summer.
Valentin Lavillenie, Renaud’s younger brother, was evacuated on a stretcher after cutting his leg on a jump.