The Prefontaine Classic plays host to countless greats across multiple events every year — but its not as common to welcome a world record holder.
The crowd was treated to a show Saturday afternoon at Historic Hayward Field as French pole vaulter and Olympic Champion Renaud Lavillenie came through with a strong performance. Lavillenie is the current world record holder, with a height of 20-02.5 set indoors in 2014.
The accolades don’t stop there for Lavillenie. He has earned gold at the World Indoor Championships, three gold medals at the European Championships and three more at the European Indoor Championships.
On Saturday, he jumped well, despite having his right arm bandaged after hurting his shoulder.
“I will not be at 100 percent, but maybe 95 — that is enough to do something good,” Lavillenie said before the meet.
At the Pre, his main competition was the Greek vaulter, Konstantinos Filippidis. Filippidis won the 2014 World Indoor Championships in Sopot. Also competing was his younger brother Valentin Lavillenie.
Filippidis didn’t enter into the competition right away, watching until the height reached his level. Filippidis didn’t jump well, failing at 5.40 meters to finish sixth.
Valentin vaulted well early, setting a new personal best after clearing the bar at 5.70. The crowd cheered as he popped up from the mat, watching as he ran over to celebrate with his brother in the shade of the grandstands.
Lavillenie entered into the competition with the bar set at 5.70, and his early attempts were shaky. He missed on the first and then clipped the bar with his foot on his second. Lavillenie sat in the pit for several moments; hand in his head as he gathered himself. Sitting on a potential disappointing failure, he was able to put it all together on his final attempt to move on.
Three athletes remained at 5.86 meters, Lavillenie, Sam Kendricks (United States) and Raphael Holzdeppe (Germany). Lavillenie cleared it on his second attempt as the crowd roared, cheering for their favorite. Neither of the other two could make it over, giving Lavillenie the win.
Competing against his own marks, Lavillenie was able to clear the bar on his first try at 6.05 meters — his highest mark ever in an outdoor competition. The vault was also the best mark ever set in the United States.
“When you get to outdoor, sometimes you have good condition and sometimes it’s really bad,” Lavillenie said. “Even if you are in good shape you cannot deal with that.”
Lavillenie’s final attempts came jumping at 6.16, which if cleared would tie his indoor record. Instead he couldn’t get over the bar, missing on all three chances. He settled for a world leading time and meet record with his final clearance at 6.05.
“I don’t care about being second in indoor, I’m just happy because it’s my PR in outdoors,” Lavillenie said.
Despite the injury and the rough start, the world record holder was able to fight through and end up with an impressive performance at the Pre Classic. He claimed the world leading mark and the meet record with his final clearance at 6.05.
Now he is looking ahead to the rest of the season.
“It’s just the beginning of the season,” Lavillenie said. “I have a lot of work to do and get myself to jump even better for the next week.”
Follow Christopher Keizur on Twitter @chriskeizur