By Jarrid Denney
Since the start of the outdoor season, pole vault world-record holder and defending Olympic gold medalist Renaud Lavillenie of France has looked a little less invincible than he has in the past.
Coming into Saturday’s Prefontaine Classic, however, Lavillenie owned just the third highest jump in the world during the outdoor season, and he lost to Sam Kendricks at a Diamond League meet in Shanghai two weeks ago when the 23-year-old American jumped 19 feet, 4 inches.
On Saturday, Lavillenie fought the wind as well as two young competitors who have been chasing his marks since they made their pro debuts, and he won with a leap of 19-0 3/4 to prove that he is still the man to beat as Rio De Janeiro Olympics approach.
“It was OK,” Lavillenie said. “I could manage better. But the wind wasn’t so good at 5.87 (meters). I mean, I’m quite happy about taking back the lead in the Diamond League race and taking the first win in Eugene.”
Lavillenie and 22-year-old Shawn Barber each cleared 19-0 3/4, but Lavillenie cleared the height in fewer attempts before both athletes failed at 19-3. Kendricks, who won the U.S. indoor title in March, finished third at 18-8 3/4.
It was the second Diamond League meet in a row that Lavillenie, Barber and Kendricks have swept the podium.
“The Diamond League in general is like a traveling circus sometimes,” Kendricks said. “We all trade victories every now and again … We all have to come out and compete our best. Today, I was not my best. There’s a little edge that if you don’t have, you cannot compete at your highest level.”
Lavillenie, who broke his own meet record last year with a vault of 19-8, competed in a Nike jersey with the University of Oregon “O” on the front and interacted with fans in the East Grandstand in between jumps. Kendricks said that he felt the meet offered him the advantage of competing at Hayward, a venue he is familiar with, but it was Lavillenie managed to turn Eugene into his home away-from-home on Saturday.
Kendricks will compete at American Track League in Atlanta next weekend, along with Barber, and then rest until the U.S. Olympic Trials. Barber and Lavillenie will then compete in a Diamond League meet in Stockholm two weeks from now before the trio likely meets again in Rio.
They will be favored to sweep the podium there, too, but it may take a monumental effort from Barber or Kendricks to stop Lavillenie from adding a second Olympic gold.
“You can’t count any of these guys out,” Kendricks said. “We all have personal bests somewhere up there around 6 meters. Renaud obviously holds the world record indoors, but he is human, sometimes, and those are the days we must do our best to compete for those spots.”
