Pole vault icon Armand Duplantis (Sweden) and 400 m world champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) have been named “Athletes of the Year 2025”. The World Athletics Association honored the two exceptional athletes at a ceremony in Monte Carlo.
The two-time Olympic champion Duplantis won his third World Championship gold at the World Championships in Tokyo with his 14th world record by jumping over 6.30 m. In total, the 26-year-old, who has been unbeaten since 2023, set four world records in the post-Olympic year.
McLaughlin-Levrone switched to the flat stadium circuit in 2024 after her second Olympic victory in Paris over 400 m hurdles. During her World Cup triumph in Tokyo, the convert, who still holds the world record for the 400 m hurdles, missed the 40-year-old world record of the GDR runner Marita Koch by just 18 hundredths in 47.78 seconds.