European indoor champion Emmanouil Karalis and world indoor champion Marie-Julie Bonnin will vault at the Perche Elite Tour in Rouen, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting, on 7 March.
Karalis opened his 2025 season with a victory in Rouen with a 5.85m clearance, a precursor to a year which saw Karalis clear six metres or higher on 12 occasions and culminated with a silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo behind Armand Duplantis.
A strong field has been assembled to face Karalis. The line-up also features Australia’s Kurtis Marschall, the bronze medallist behind Karalis at the World Championships, and 2024 Olympic silver medallist Sam Kendricks from the United States.
Former world record-holder and 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie has also been announced along with French teammate Thibaut Collet who finished fifth at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
There will also be high hopes for Marie-Julie Bonnin in the women’s pole vault. Bonnin was the surprise winner of the world indoor title in Nanjing last March with a 4.75m clearance to equal the French record.
The men's and women's meeting records stand at 6.05m to Chris Nilsen and 4.86m to Molly Caudery.
The full World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver, Bronze and Challenger schedule in Europe can be found here.
More details about live streaming will be announced in the upcoming weeks.
