Pole vault kings Duplantis, Lavillenie tie in garden competition
PARIS: Three of the best pole vaulters of all time went head-to-head in a competition on Sunday from their back gardens, as sport continued to find new ways of taking place despite the coronavirus pandemic. World record holder Armand Duplantis and former Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie cleared five metres 36 times in half an hour, while world champion Sam Kendricks managed 26 successful attempts.
The event, livestreamed by World Athletics on social media and watched by around 150,000 people, saw Lavillenie competing from his home in Clermont-Ferrand, France, with Swedish star Duplantis in Lafayette, Louisiana and Kendricks in Oxford, Mississippi.
The 20-year-old Duplantis wanted an extra three minutes to decide a winner, but Lavillenie, 33, said he was “done.”
“I was really missing the feeling I get competing,” said Frenchman Lavillenie.
Duplantis, who replaced Lavillenie as world record holder, let a halfway lead slip with a rare missed effort.
“It was really fun being out there competing against those guys,” he said. “I had really missed competing.”
World Athletics said it would look into holding more “Ultimate Garden Clashes” in the coming weeks, with much of the world still under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is a brilliant initiative, great fun and really innovative,” said World Athletics president Sebastian Coe.
Lavillenie and Duplantis will face off again remotely in Oslo on June 11, with the Swede competing at the Bislett Stadium.
The event replaces the traditional Diamond League competition, and will also feature a world-record attempt by Norwegian hurdles star Karsten Warholm.