World record holder Mondo Duplantis soared to a season-leading 6.03m in Rouen on Saturday, edging out rival and former Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie on his home ground.
Duplantis, 21, easily cleared the height before attempting an ambitious assault on his own world record of 6.18m.
However, he failed at 6.19m despite the loud encouragement of his rivals, whose enthusiasm made up for the empty stands in the arena.
Lavillenie, the 2012 Olympic gold medallist who is the Swede’s senior by 13 years, failed with three attempts to get over six meters.
He had succeeded with 6.02 at Tourcoing in France last weekend.
“You have to manage the recovery from last week and get t…
Keep on reading: Pole vault king Duplantis soars to season-leading victory