ATHS:McLaughlin, Duplantis 2022's top athletes
ATHS:McLaughlin, Duplantis 2022's top athletes
6 December 2022
Ath Awards Update
By Amy Tennery
EDS:Reissued, with new photo, for technical reasons.
NEW YORK CITY, Dec 5 Reuters - American Sydney McLaughlin and Sweden's Armand "Mondo" Duplantis have been named World Athletes of the Year after a record-breaking 2022 that saw them each collect gold a the world championships.
McLaughlin whipped the Eugene, Oregon, crowd into a frenzy when she won the 400 meters hurdles in a breathtaking 50.68 seconds, shattering her own record that she set less than a month earlier at the same track.
The 23-year-old Olympic gold medallist helped the US to gold in the 4x400m relay as well, tantalising fans when she suggested she could set her sights on the 400 meters flat next.
"Everything we aimed to do, we accomplished," McLaughlin posted on the World Athletics Twitter page on Monday night.
"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."
Duplantis underlined his claim as the greatest-ever pole vaulter when he cleared a record 6.21m to collect gold in Eugene, the third time he broke the world record in 2022.
The 23-year-old Duplantis is the first pole vaulter to collect gold at the Olympics, World Championships, World Indoor Championships, World Junior Championships, World Youth Championships and European Championships.
"I try not to put limits on myself," Duplantis tweeted.
"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."
Reuters NZ
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