Renaud Lavillenie clears 5.93m at Aulnay Sous Bois (© Jiro Mochizuki)
Pole Vault star Renaud Lavillenie gave early notice that it will take a lot to take away his IAAF World Indoor Championships title next March when he opened his indoor season at the Perche Elite Tour meeting in the Parisian suburb of Aulnay Sous Bois by going over 5.93m on Saturday (21).
Lavillenie, who recently returned home after a two-week training camp in Reunion, opened at 5.65m then went over 5.75m, 5.83m and 5.93m in his 27th and last competition of the year, not counting qualifying rounds and his Decathlon outing in September.
Apart from needing two tries at 5.75m, he cleared all his heights at the first attempt and only came down to earth when he missed three times at a would-be French record of 6.04m.
No one other than Lavillenie has gone higher in 2013, indoors or outdoors.
The Olympic champion said that he intends to compete on a weekly basis from early January as preparation for the 2014 World Indoor Championships, which will be held in the Polish city of Sopot from 7-9 March.
His next outing is planned to be on 11 January in the French town of Aubiere.
Behind Lavillenie, his compatriot Kevin Menaldo finished second with a personal best of 5.65m.
Sweden's former World junior champion Angelica Bengtsson won the women’s competition with 4.49m.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF
