3. Renaud and Valentin Lavillenie
Every parent hopes for a worthy successor in their child, but Mr Lavillenie must be doubly proud of the exploits of his older son, Renaud, in the Pole vault, with younger brother, Valentin following in his footsteps. Renaud is the French record holder (indoor and outdoor), reigning Olympic champion, and World Record (WR) holder in the event.
The 28-year old was introduced to the sport at an early age by his father, who was also a pole vaulter, and now has 7 European titles (3 outdoor, 4 indoor), and 3 World Championships medals (1 Silver, 2 Bronze) in his kitty. He also won the 2012 World Indoors and the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakech.
(Photo Credit: Watch Athletics)
Renaud narrowly lost GOLD to Raphael Holzdeppe at the 2013 World Championships but was compensated the following year with the WR (6.16m) at the annual Pole Vault Stars meeting in Donetsk, the hometown of former record holder, Sergey Bubka. The Ukrainian watched from the stands as his 21-year old mark bowed to the exploits of the Frenchman.
Renaud also won 21 of his 22 competitions in 2014 and ended the year as the IAAF Male Athlete of the Year. He has been the pole vault overall winner of the IAAF Diamond League in five consecutive years, (2010 to 2014) and is on course to retain his trophy.
23-year old Valentin won Bronze at the 2013 European U-23 Championships and has a PB of 5.80m (indoor) and 5.70m (outdoors), which he set at the Eugene Diamond League where he finished 4th, while his brother won with an outdoor PB of 6.05m. The pair also competed in the Rome leg of the meeting where they finished 1st and 10th respectively with 5.91m and 5.56m.
