Shawn Barber, Canadian world champion pole vaulter, dies at 29

Shawn Barber, the Canadian pole vault file holder and 2015 world champion, has died from medical problems. He was 29.

Barber died Wednesday at residence in Kingwood, Texas, his agent, Paul Doyle, confirmed to CBS Information. A reason behind demise was not but identified. Barber had been experiencing well being points.

“Extra than simply an unimaginable athlete, Shawn was such a good-hearted individual that all the time put others forward of himself,” Doyle mentioned Thursday. “It is tragic to lose such a great particular person at such a younger age.”

“I may say that because the information has hit I have been listening to from individuals from throughout the globe providing condolences and sharing fond recollections of Shawn,” Doyle added. “He was an incredible man and shall be actually missed by lots of people all around the World.”

Barber was a standout pole vaulter on the College of Akron, the place he captured back-to-back NCAA indoor championships in 2014 and 2015. He received the NCAA outside crown as properly in 2015, earlier than taking gold later that summer season on the Pan-Am Video games. Barber carried a wave of momentum into worlds that season in Beijing. He took gold over Germany’s Raphael Marcel Holzdeppe.

A yr later, Barber made the ultimate on the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in a pole vault occasion received by Thiago Braz of Brazil.

Barber’s greatest vault was six meters (19 ft, 8 ¼ inches) on Jan. 15, 2016, in Reno, Nevada. His mark stays the Canadian file.

He is survived by his mom, Ann; father, George; and brother, David.

Extra from CBS Information