Canadian former pole vault world champion Shawn Barber passed away at his home in Texas.
29-year-old Shawn Barber won the world championship by overcoming 5.90 meters in Beijing in 2015, when he was just 21 years old, and achieved his other great international success at the Pan American Games in Toronto the same year.
His manager, Paul Doyle, announced the Canadian athlete’s death in an Instagram message, but did not provide details about the circumstances of his death:
A friend we will never forget. Shawn Barber passed away.
Shawn, who currently holds the Canadian indoor record with 6 meters and the outdoor record with 5.93m, was also an Olympic finalist in Rio 2016. The former pole vault world champion had been having various health problems for a while, and his condition had worsened recently.
In recent years, Barber struggled with psychological issues that led to his retirement in 2020. That same year, Canadian athletes tested positive for drugs during a checkup.
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