Renaud Lavillenie of France looks on during Men's Pole Vault Final on Day 5 of the 2017 IAAF World Championships at London Stadium in London, Britain, on Aug. 8, 2017. (Xinhua/Wang Lili)
LONDON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- World record holder Lavillenie of France was happy after winning the men's pole vault bronze at the World Athletics Championships here on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old cleared 5.89 meters for his fourth bronze at the World Championships following 2009, 2011 and 2015. He took silver in the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.
"My main goal this year was to get on the podium, from almost nothing," he said. "I missed four months of training. The last few months were difficult for me, my back was totally messed up. I knew that I might not get to the highest level but I wanted to make it to the podium.
"I am very happy to be able to fight until the end. Between the gold and the bronze medal, there was only a fraction."
Lavillenie, who won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, broke Sergey Bubka's 21-year-old world record in 2014 by clearing 6.16 meters. He went on to claim silver in last year's Rio Olympic Games.
Sam Kendricks of the United States won the gold with 5.95 meters and Poland's Piotr Lisek took silver with 5.89.
