Armand Duplantis was named World Athletics Athlete of the Year

Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis won the award after another dominant year, while equally impressive American sprinter and hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone took the women’s award.

Armand Duplantis capped off a phenomenal year by being named World Athletics Athlete of the Year.

The Swede broke the pole vault world record four times, each time by a centimetre, and remained unbeaten in 16 events during the season, winning another world title in Tokyo in September.

He also won the Technical Athlete of the Year award at the Monaco ceremony, where he criticized Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam of Athletics.

The event was billed as a revolutionary addition to the athletics calendar, but it faces the risk of a complete collapse after cancelling the final race of its debut season and owing the participating athletes millions of dollars in prize money.

The circuit did not include technical events, prompting Armand Duplantis to tell the audience to much laughter, “There was another tournament that tried to exclude technical events. That didn’t work out very well, did it? I’m very proud to represent technical athletes”.

Regarding his world record, Armand Duplantis added, “I hope to keep improving it. I hope to keep annoying everyone who has to vote for me in the years to come! It’s really important to me to win this for technical athletes. It’s very special, I’ll really appreciate this award.”