The 27-year-old French Olympic and European champion cleared his first attempt at the height in the same meeting where Bubka - who was watching from the stands - set one of the longest lasting world records in athletics in February 1993.

Lavillenie, whose best outdoors is 6.02m, described his achievement as "completely unbelievable".

He told French news channel BFM TV: "I will need time to get back down on earth.

"It was a mythical record.

"I knew I had the potential to try it but [to] beat it so early, that's something else.

"I did not know what was happening to me.

"The sound was crazy.

"These are huge emotions.

"I am in a new dimension."

France's Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie clears the world record pole vault height of 6.16 metres in Donetsk, breaking a 21-year-old mark ©AFP/Getty Images

Lavillenie added: "It's huge.

"It's a record that was set more than 20 years ago by an iconic figure in the history of the sport and I still have trouble realising I have beaten it."

Bubka, now an International Olympic Committee member and a vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, had said on the morning of the competition that if his record had to be beaten by Lavillenie he hoped it would happen in his home town.

He stood up at the back of the stand and joined in the applause after Lavillenie's historic clearance before descending to the track to congratulate the ecstatic Frenchman.

"That's fantastic," said Bubka, who has been at the Sochi 2014 Games, where he carried the Olympic flame in the week of the Opening Ceremony. 

"It's history and I'm very happy that Renaud does it here, in Donetsk, my town,

"I'm happy because my job is to help athletes perform.

"Athletics are my life.

"I'm pleased for him and for athletics."

Sergey Bubka congratulates Renaud Lavillenie after seeing his world record finally bettered in his home city of Donetsk ©AFP/Getty Images

The 50-year-old Ukrainian still has the best mark ever recorded outdoors, 6.14m, which he cleared at altitude in Sestriere in July 1994.

Lavillenie, who narrowly missed out on adding the world title to his collection in Moscow last summer, raised his best to 6.04m in Rouen on January 25, and cleared 6.08m in Bydgoszcz on January 31 to become the second highest performer in history.

But his world record effort hung by a thread earlier in the competition when he had two failures at 6.01m before clearing with his last attempt.

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