Pole vaulter Lavillenie flying French flag

PARIS (AFP) –

France’s Renaud Lavillenie competes in the men’s pole vault competition at the Diamond League athletics meet in London on July 13. Lavillenie has been left flying the French flag for his country’s athletics team at the Olympic Games, the pole vaulter arriving in London in the form of his life and odds-on favourite to claim gold.

Renaud Lavillenie has been left flying the French flag for his country’s athletics team at the Olympic Games, the pole vaulter arriving in London in the form of his life and odds-on favourite to claim gold.

After claiming a disappointing bronze at last year’s World Championships in Daegu, Lavillenie underwent an operation on a hand he broke when a pole broke in training in December.

Suddenly, his Olympic hopes were put on ice. But the 25-year-old Clermont native returned to competition in February and since then has been unbeatable.

He successfully defended his world indoor title in Istanbul in March with a soaring best of 5.95 metres, before dominating the European outdoor season and going on to also defend his European title in Helsinki, with a season-leading 5.97m.

France’s Renaud Lavillenie at the Diamond League athletics meet in London on July 13. He successfully defended his world indoor title in Istanbul in March with a soaring best of 5.95 metres, before dominating the European outdoor season and going on to also defend his European title in Helsinki, with a season-leading 5.97m.

Lavillenie’s battle in the Finnish capital with German rival Bjorn Otto has been one of the highlights of the athletics year.

The duo employed a brazen gamesmanship that saw the Frenchman hold his nerve to the end and cement his world number one ranking with a classic podium-grabbing performance.

It was his ninth victory in a row this season and another in which he has never vaulted lower than 5.82m to win.

Lavillenie said that sceptics who doubted his entry into the European championships so close before the Olympics had been answered.

“There cannot be a better preparation for the Games than a competition like that,” he said, calling it “one of the most beautiful in my career”.

But he warned: “Just because I won in Helsinki does not mean that I’ll win in London, but it’s helped me prepare calmly.

“In terms of performance, I’m still not at my best level, but in terms of managing a competition I’m really there.

“It’s proof that work pays off, and it really pays, as it must.”

His run to form could not have come at a better time.

Australia’s defending Olympic champion Steve Hooker is still to recover his true form after an injury-plagued couple of seasons.

And Lavillenie’s main competition now seems likely to come from German duo Otto and Malte Mohr, Poland’s Pawel Wojciechowski and Cuban Lazaro Borges, the latter two the surprise podium toppers at last year’s Daegu world championships.

The French athletics federation will be crossing their fingers that Lavillenie arrives in London in tip-top shape as their cupboard of potential medallists looks particularly bare.

Christophe Lemaitre, heralded as Europe’s new sprinting sensation after setting a new French record of 9.92sec last season, faces an severely uphill hurdle to break the US and Jamaican hegemony over the 100 and 200m.

Another medal hopeful would surely have been triple jump tyro Teddy Tamgho, the world indoor record holder.

But he was ruled out after failing to recover from an ankle operation.

Yoann Diniz, in the 50km walk, and Vanessa Boslak in the women’s pole vault, remain France’s other main hopes in the British capital.