STOCKHOLM - France's Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie warmed up for the Rio Games by clearing 5.73 metres to win the Stockholm Diamond League meet on Thursday.
Renaud Lavillenie of France reacts during the men's pole vault event of the IAAF Diamond League Bauhaus Athletics meeting at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium on June 16, 2016
It was the seventh Diamond League win for the 29-year-old, who warmed up in wet and cold conditions in the Swedish capital by clearing 5.65m on his third attempt.
He then jumped 5.73m on his second attempt to pull ahead of Canadian Shawn Barber (5.65), the 2015 world champion, the only title missing from Lavillenie's collection.
The Frenchman -- world record holder with a height of 6.16m -- triumphed at the Oslo meeting last week to add to his success in Eugene in May and he is coming into form at just the right time with the Olympics looming large in August.
"I have three goals this year: in addition to the Olympics, the Diamond League, with the opportunity to win a seventh trophy, is a proof of consistency," Lavillenie had warned before the meet.
"And Europe (the continental championships next month in Amsterdam), which is a chance to gauge where I am at a month before the games."