Earlier in the year, this past March, Lavillenie won the men’s pole vault at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham with 5.90 meters. This marked his third career world championship win in the indoor track and field (in 2016 he won at the Indoor World Championships in Portland, Oregon, and in 2012 he won in Istanbul, Turkey).
Lavillenie was the world leader in the men’s indoor pole vault, with 5.93 meters, in a tie with American athlete Sam Kendricks.
At the 2018 European Championships in August, which took place in Berlin, Germany, Lavillenie finished in third place with a clearance of 5.95 meters, after a very intense competition.
Lavillenie also won two competitions at the 2018 IAAF Diamond League in Shanghai and Lausanne respectively.
At the IAAF Continental Cup, on September 9, Lavillenie finished in second place with 5.80 meters behind American pole vaulter Sam Kendricks, who win with 5.85 meters.
In a post on Facebook, Lavillenie noted that his jump of 5.80 meters at the Continental Cup was the 143th time in his career that he jumped over that height; moreover, this was the 19th time that he jumped over 5.80 meters in a single year after competing in 26 competitions. The only other time he tied that milestone was back in 2015.
Overall, Renaud Lavillenie proved that despite being 31 years old (almost 32 years old in a few days), he is still at the top of his game. His athletic performance in the sport this year was far better than last year (when he was battling injuries), where his season best (outdoors) was 5.89 meters, and he earned the bronze at the 2017 World Championships.
In 2018, Lavillenie triumphed in the indoor track and field with his gold medal win at the Indoor World Championships and he had the fourth-best outdoor performance with 5.95 meters (right behind Sam Kendricks, Timur Morgunov and Mondo Duplantis). Lavillenie is a substantial indication that age is just a number, and he hopes to have equally good results in the following year.
