Renaud Lavillenie

Renaud Lavillenie ( or ; born 18 September 1986) is a French pole vaulter.

Only Sergey Bubka (6.15 m in 1993) and Steve Hooker (6.06 m in 2009) had registered higher personal best indoor clearances.

After securing the gold medal when Otto and Holzdeppe failed later to match or better his 5.97 m, Lavillenie had one failed attempt at 6.02 m and two unsuccessful attempts at 6.07 m. He thus won France its 14th track and field Olympic gold medal in history, became the first French track and field Olympic champion since 1996 and the third French men's Olympic pole vault champion.

That 6.01-metre mark broke Jean Galfione's ten-year-old French national outdoor record of 5.98 m set in Amiens on 23 July 1999 and would remain as the French national outdoor record until Lavillenie beat it by 1 cm in July 2013.

Renaud made his pole vault competition debut in 2003, at the age of 17.

Lavillenie's 2008 outdoor personal best was 5.65 m, achieved on 27 June in Villeneuve-d'Ascq.

His 2008 indoor personal best was 5.81 metres, achieved on 5 December in Aulnay-sous-Bois.

Lavillenie's 2009 indoor personal best was also 5.80 m – he cleared that height in Moscow and to win the 2009 European Indoor Championships pole vault final in Turin.

Lavillenie improved his outdoor personal best to 5.81 m in May 2009, beating veteran French pole vaulter Romain Mesnil in Forbach.

Two weeks later, he improved his outdoor personal best to 5.96 m at a meeting in Aubière, setting a world-leading outdoor mark.

He achieved another world-leading outdoor mark with a winning jump of 6.01 m on 21 June 2009 at the 2009 European Team Championships in Leiria, Portugal.

At the 2009 World Championships, Lavillenie vaulted 5.80 m in the pole vault final to win the bronze medal (his first medal in the Olympic Games, World Championships or World Indoor Championships) behind Steven Hooker and Romain Mesnil.

He also took part in the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final but failed to record a mark and finished last.

He was the pole vault overall winner of the IAAF Diamond League in seven consecutive years, from 2010 to 2016.

At the 2010 World Indoor Championships, Lavillenie's only cleared 5.45 m in the qualification round and did not qualify for the final.

He enjoyed better success at the inaugural 2010 IAAF Diamond League (all events were held outdoors), in which he won four of the seven pole vault events to become its pole vault overall winner.

At the Adidas Grand Prix on 12 June 2010, he won the pole vault event with a jump of 5.85 m (which was a meeting record), beating Steven Hooker into second place.

Seven weeks later, he captured his first European Championships pole vault title in Barcelona, with a jump of 5.85 m in the final.

On 5 March 2011, in the 2011 European Indoor Championships pole vault final in Paris, Lavillenie vaulted 6.03 m to win his second consecutive European Indoor Championships gold medal and break the French national indoor pole vault record that had been held by Jean Galfione (6.00 m) since 6 March 1999.

That jump of 6.03 m was the third-highest personal best indoor clearance of all time.

Lavillenie only managed fifth place (5.50 m) in the pole vault event of the outdoor 2011 European Team Championships.

He won four of the seven pole vault events in the 2011 IAAF Diamond League to become its pole vault overall winner for the second year running.

At the 2011 World Championships he cleared 5.85 m to win the World Championships pole vault bronze medal for the second time running.

Lavillenie underwent surgery on his left hand after he broke it due to a snapped pole accident in December 2011.

Lavillenie won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London and the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

In addition to his Olympic success, he has won three World Indoor Championships gold medals (record), three European Championships gold medals and four European Indoor Championships gold medals.

He has also won one silver medal and four bronze medals at the World Championships.

Lavillenie returned to competition in February 2012 and won the Pole Vault Stars meet with a clearance of 5.82 m.

At the 2012 World Indoor Championships, Renaud Lavillenie won his first World Indoor Championships or World Championships gold medal by clearing 5.95 m in the final, which was 15 cm better than the silver and bronze medallists.

At the 2012 European Championships, Lavillenie cleared 5.97 m in the final to win the European Championships gold medal for the second time in a row.

At the 2012 Olympic Games, Lavillenie won the gold medal by clearing 5.97 m (a new Olympic record) in the final.

He was in the bronze medal position (5.85 m) behind two Germans at 5.91 m – Björn Otto and Raphael Holzdeppe – when he cleared the aforementioned height on his third and final attempt.

He had earlier failed to clear 5.91 m on his first attempt and 5.97 m on his second.

Outside pole vaulting, Lavillenie is a keen motorcyclist, and raced in the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours for motorcycles, finishing 25th.

The 6.16 was the absolute world record for the pole vault for over six years, 2014–2020.

Lavillenie subsequently entered the 2014 race, aiming for a top 20 finish.

Lavillenie's younger brother Valentin Lavillenie is also a pole vaulter.

Renaud Lavillenie was born in Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire, Charente, France.

His father was a pole vaulter.

As of 25 August 2016, he holds the French national records for the highest pole vault clearance both outdoors (6.05 m) and indoors (6.16 m).