Athletics: McLaughlin-Levrone, Duplantis win World Athlete of the year awards
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Sydney McLaughlin (left) broke the women’s 400m hurdles world record twice while Mondo Duplantis set three new world highs in 2022.
PHOTOS: REUTERS, AFP
PARIS – World champion American hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, both 23, won the World Athlete of the Year awards on Monday.
McLaughlin-Levrone broke the world women’s 400m hurdles record twice while Duplantis set three world highs in 2022.
United States-born Swede Duplantis claimed the award for the second time in three years with his three world records plus the men’s world indoor title in March and the world outdoor gold in July.
“Going into the year, I had really high expectations of myself,” he said.
“And I had some really big goals.
“I wanted to win the world indoors, the world outdoors, the Europeans, the Diamond League final and I wanted to break the world record a few times.
“I try not to put limits on myself. I can definitely jump higher than I’ve jumped right now.
“So I guess we’ll see how high.
“But I want to push it higher than people think is even possible, that’s for sure.”
Both indoor and outdoor titles were claimed in world record heights of 6.20m and 6.21m respectively.
He also sealed European gold in Munich. He won 18 of his 19 competitions and vaulted six metres or higher 23 times.
Duplantis is the first pole vaulter to collect gold at the Olympics, World Championships, World Indoor, World Junior, World Youth and European Championships.
The other men’s finalists were Moroccan steeplechaser Soufiane El Bakkali, Norwegian runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge and American sprinter Noah Lyles.
It was a first World Athlete of the Year award for McLaughlin-Levrone, who clocked an astonishing 50.68sec in July, obliterating her own world record
“I would describe 2022 for myself by just saying ‘incredible’,’‘ she said.
“All of my goals were accomplished this year.
“We were able to accomplish everything we set out to do.
“It couldn’t have been any better.
“There’s more possible and I think, as a whole, this generation of athletes is figuring out there’s a lot more we can do.”
She is billed as a once-in-a-lifetime talent and has hinted she could change her discipline to the 400m flat.
She will be one of the most closely watched performers at the World Championships in Budapest in August.
“My coach thinks there’s a lot more to be done,” she said.
“The sky’s the limit, for sure.”
McLaughlin-Levrone also won Olympic gold in 2021 in Tokyo in a then-world record time.
The other women’s finalists were Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Kimberly Garcia of Peru and Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas.
Earlier on Monday, Erriyon Knighton, 18, became the first athlete to win the Rising Star Award twice as his performance in winning world 200m bronze at the World Championships in Eugene was honoured.
“Winning this award back-to-back means my talent is getting recognised on a bigger stage,” Knighton said.
The women’s Rising Star award went to 18-year-old Adriana Vilagos.
The Serb retained her World Under-20 javelin title with a championship record. AFP, REUTERS
