05/03/14 UPDATE: Renaud was presented with his official Guinness World Records certificate yesterday in Paris. Check out an interview with the track and field star at the foot of the page.

Renaud Lavillenie Certificate

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16/02/14:
It’s been one of the holy grails of track and field, but this weekend finally saw Sergei Bubka’s 21-year-old world record for highest pole vault (male) (indoors) broken.

French Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie was the man to pull off the seemingly impossible, reaching an incredible 6.16m during the Pole Vault Stars meeting in Donetsk, Ukraine on Saturday – a full 1cm higher than Ukranian Bubka’s benchmark leap set in 1993.

The feat was made all the more poignant as Bubka, who was in his home town for the event, looked on and applauded from the crowd as Lavillenie created a new piece of sporting history.

Tweeting soon afterwards, Lavillenie, 27, who cleared the height on his first attempt wrote:: "World record! 6.16 at my first attempt! That's incredible. I'm still in the air."

Vaulting legend Bubka walked onto the track to congratulate 27-year old Lavillenie following the leap and later said: "That's fantastic. It's history and I'm very happy that Renaud does it here, in Donetsk, my town.

"I'm happy because my job is to help athletes perform. Athletics is my life. I'm pleased for him and for athletics."

Bubka was the first man to clear 6.00m, and set anincredible 35 pole vault world records during his career (17 times outdoors and 18 indoors) - itself a record for Most athletics world records set by an individual. He remains the holder for highest pole vault (male) (outdoors)with a 6.13 m leap performed in Tokyo in 1992.

Lavillenie, whose best outdoors is 6.02m, described his achievement as "completely unbelivable".

He told French news channel BFM TV: "I will need time to get back down on earth. It was a mythical record. I knew I had the potential to try it but [to] beat it so early, that's something else.

"I did not know what was happening to me. The sound was crazy. These are huge emotions. I am in a new dimension."

05/03/14 UPDATE: Renaud was presented with his official Guinness World Records certificate yesterday in Paris. Check out an interview with the track and field star below.

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