Return to the top of the Renault to Avilani

The jumper in the legendary pole, the Renault Lavilny, seemed to be on his way down. Five years he did not cross the six-meter mark, compared to 19 times until 2016. The low point if you can call it that, was when he did not qualify for the 2019 World Cup final in Doha and at the same time was the ascent of Armand Duplantis who at 20 already jumped to an unimaginable height of 6.18 .

But at the beginning of the month at the age of 35, when he is almost 15 years older than the 21-year-old Doplantis, Lavileni surprisingly passed 6.02 meters in the competition in France and returned to the top. For Abilani, this is just the beginning of Chapter Two. “I am now in excellent condition, among the best in my career,” the Frenchman told astonished reporters.

I tried to solve the mystery of the new Avilani, with the help of Renault Longbra, the French professional director of the Athletics Association. I did this in collaboration with Konstantin Semyonov, the pole vault coach, who is responsible for, among other things, the climb of Israeli champion Naama Bernstein to a significant height, 4.35 meters, a week and a half ago in Poland, and the new hope coach 14-year-old Jordan Mantel.

Longbra came to Israel on loan from the French association where he played a similar role, and is already considered a shareholder here in the promotion of quite a few athletes. Personally, Lubengard is very close to the French star by virtue of his previous role.

Is there a new competitor for the pole vault medals?
“As strange as it may sound, the corona actually made a significant contribution to Lavillani’s return to fitness. In 2016, after the Rio Olympics in which he won a silver medal, he was injured in a motorcycle accident. The injury was to his back thigh muscle. He felt pain years later. “Although until then he had done all that was required in training, he did not particularly like working out in the gym. Here came the corona that disabled activity, except for competitions using the zoom, and he had much more leisure. Also for fitness training.”

In a career that must be as perfectly accurate as his own, how did he happen to neglect the gym?
“The only explanation, if it can be seen as an explanation, is his enthusiasm to compete. He really likes to compete and also competed more than anyone else. When there is such a frequency in a series of competitions, there is less time left to train.”

And how did the training he conducted during the Corona period affect him?
“He says he has healed from all the injuries that have plagued him since the accident and stressed that he feels like new. This is also the reason for his statements about the readiness for the current season. The 6.02 was for him only the beginning of the new period.”

In less than a month, in Torun, Poland, there should be his real test for this season, at the end of which the Tokyo Olympics will also come, assuming the Corona does not disrupt the programs again: the European Indoor Championships in which Duplantis will also participate.

It is not certain that Abilene himself believes he will recreate the only gold of his career, 12 years after London, but there is still room in his house for another medal, even if it is silver or bronze, as on his last podium at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin.

During the corona break, Avilani trained from home. It has a running surface, columns to stretch the bar on and of course a mattress for landing. Like many in other occupations, he too moved to work from home. The training in the backyard did not seem foreign to his wife, Anis, who, by chance or not, jumps on a pole. Although at other levels, a personal best of 4.26, but still jumping. Only their daughter, one-and-a-half-year-old Iris, is still inactive. Since Renault’s father was also a pole vaulter, some are already curious to know if there will be a genetic influence of the parents in the future on the little daughter who may become a third generation of a pole vault family.

In training since the corona, there has been no need to improve the technique. Already in his early years in front of the bar, Sergei Bovka, the climax who preceded him, said of him that she was “almost perfect.” All he has left is to return to peak fitness.

Another trait that characterizes the former world record holder is passion. The same passion that allows him to jump for pleasure, even in this Sisyphean profession. Longbra recounted Lavilny’s relationship with the pole: “He says he wants to jump until the age of 80. In any age group he participates in, he will want to set the record for the Masters. The record is up to 35, the record is up to 40 and so on. Until the age of 80. A wonderful career and staying at the top. “

The relationship between the two greats, Dopelantis and Abilani, is different from the relationship of such prominent contenders in other fields and between the two there is mutual appreciation. By the way, Dopplantis’ father would also jump on a pole and pass at his peak 5.80 meters. In general, in the pole vault, solidarity between the various competitors stood out and the climax was in Doha when the American Sandy Morris, encouraged herself with a round of applause, her main rival, to pass constantly and also to pass her face. Where will you see such love in other professions.