Philippe D'Encausse

Philippe D’Encausse grew up around pole vault, surrounded by some of the best vaulters in the world. His father competed at the1968 Olympics and Philippe represented France at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Philippe’s knowledge and experience continue impacting the pole vault world as he is also an Olympic coach and a coach for the French National Team.

Philippe coached Renaud Lavillenie at the 2012 London Olympics, 2016 Rio Olympics, and 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Renaud won the gold medal in 2012 and the silver medal in 2016. Philippe also coached Renaud to a world record performance in 2014.

Philippe believes that the most importantthing is two things:

You have to love the sport and you have to challenge yourself.

“As an athlete, I was not the best in my city at the age of 18. There were many vaulters who were better than me, but I was motivated to improve because I loved the sport.

At age 20 I jumped 5.40m, which is not the best result internationally, but I thought that if I continued working hard, I could improve. At age 21, I competed in the Olympic Games. I was still not the best athlete, but no one loved pole vault more than me.

If you look at Mondo Duplantis, Sam Kendricks, and Renaud Lavillenie, they all jump over 6 m. At the age of 18, Mondo jumped 6.05, but Renaud and Sam were jumping 5m at 20 years old. Sam and Renaud were approximately the same kind of athletes. They were motivated and always thought it was possible to jump higher. They love the sport and they set higher goals.

As a coach, I challenge my athletes all the time. It is good for every athlete. When you train alone, you can work on some things, but the most important thing is the competition. At practice we will work on the parts of the vault, and many times we finish practice with intergroup competition. Everyone uses the same pole and the first to jump 5 meters wins. If you are in competition all the time, you will be ready for the big competitions that count.

If you love your sport, you have a chance to be good at it. As you go higher, there will be people to help you. Your work is to make every day a successful one.

In addition to his love of pole vaulting, Philippe is a motorsports enthusiast.

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