Canadian Shawn Barber, former world pole vault champion, died at the age of 29 at his home in Texas, his agent announced Thursday.
Shawn Barber won the world title in 2015 in Beijing by clearing a bar at 5.90 m and won his other major international crown the same year at the Pan American Games in Toronto.
It was via an Instagram message that Paul Doyle, his agent, announced the death of the Canadian pole vaulter, without giving details on the circumstances of his death.
The University of Akron in Ohio, with which Barber was a three-time academic champion, has, She gave a little more information concerning the disappearance of the Canadian. “Shawn Barber died at his home in Kingswood, Texas, of medical complications on Wednesday, January 17. Barber had fallen ill and had been in failing health for some time,” the University wrote on its website.
Lavillenie: “I can’t believe you’re gone”
“A friend who will never be forgotten,” his agent wrote on Doyle Management’s Instagram page. Barber is still the Canadian record holder indoors at 6 meters and outdoors at 5.93 m. “Shawn was also an Olympic finalist at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro. He will be greatly missed,” added Paul Doyle.
The pole vaulter who had dual American and Canadian nationality surprised everyone by winning world gold in 2015 at just 21 years old ahead of the German Raphael Holzdeppe, and the favorite, the Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie.
Renaud Lavillenie’s tribute.
“I can’t believe you’re gone, Shawn. Rest in peace my friend,” the French champion reacted on Instagram shortly after the announcement, adding that the “pole vault family has lost an extraordinary person.”