World champions and world record-breakers Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Mondo Duplantis have been named the World Athletes of the Year.
They were the final winners revealed on Dec. 5 as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022, along with the winners of the Rising Stars awards, Serbian javelin thrower Adriana Vilagos and US sprinter Erriyon Knighton.
World Athletics said McLaughlin-Levrone and Duplantis — winners of the Rising Stars awards just four years ago— broke the world records in their respective disciplines on more than one occasion this year, with their final record-breaking performances coming at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
McLaughlin-Levrone improved her own world 400m hurdles record by 0.78, first to 51.41 at the US Championships and then to an “awe-inspiring” 50.68 at the World Championships, World Athletics said.
“That secured her a first individual senior world title, and she followed it by anchoring the US team to another 4x400m victory,” it said.
“The 23-year-old made a statement with her first 400m hurdles race of the year, clocking 51.61 in Nashville in early June,” it added. “At that point it was the third-fastest time ever recorded, but the all-time list soon underwent further revisions.”
Lining up at the US Championships at Hayward Field, World Athletics said McLaughlin-Levrone stormed to victory in the 400m hurdles in 51.41, taking 0.05 off the mark she set at last year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Back at Hayward Field a month later, World Athletics said McLaughlin-Levrone “obliterated her previous best, running 50.68 as the home crowd and the rest of the world watched on in amazement.”
Just when you think Duplantis could not be more dominant, the Swedish pole vaulter has a season like 2022, during which he set three world records, won two global titles, won 18 of his 19 competitions, and vaulted six metres or higher 23 times, World Athletics said.
It said Duplantis, despite only just turning 23, now has more six-meter clearances than any other pole vaulter in history.
World Athletics said his record-breaking 2022 campaign began with an undefeated indoor season, during which he set a world record of 6.19m in Belgrade.
He returned to the Serbian capital two weeks later for the World Athletics Indoor Championships, where he struck gold with 6.20m, another improvement on his own world record.
World Athletics said he was then victorious on the Wanda Diamond League circuit, including a 6.16m vault in Stockholm, the highest ever outdoor vault in history.
“It was the perfect warm-up for the World Championships three weeks later,” World Athletics said.
As the last athlete competing on the final day of competition at the World Championships in Oregon, it said Duplantis “soared over a world record of 6.21m with room to spare.”
Less than a month later, World Athletics said he retained his European title with a championship record of 6.06m in a competition, where he registered no misses.
“He then wrapped up his season with a victory at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Zurich,” World Athletics said.
Jamaican Olympian Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was a contender for the World Athlete of the Year.
