Duplantis and McLaughlin King and Queen of the Year: Coronation in Monte Carlo

From our correspondent Andrea Buongiovanni

@abuongi

December 5th
– MONTECARLO (Monaco)

Mondo Duplantis and Sydney McLaughlin are the World Athletics World Athletes of the Year. The announcement took place tonight in Montecarlo, in a “reduced” version of the traditional Gala of the international federation. There were five, in the men’s and women’s fields, the finalists vying for recognition. The 23-year-old Swedish pole vaulter beat the competition from the American sprinter Noah Lyles, the Norwegian middle-distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen – expected to star at the European cross-country championships in Turin on Sunday – the Moroccan steeplechase Soufiane El Bakkali and the Kenyan marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge. The 23-year-old American was preferred over Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser, Nigerian hurdler Tobi Amusan, Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas and Peruvian walker Kimberly Garcia.

He

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The two, separated by only three months of age (Sydney is more… older), succeed the Norwegian Karsten Warholm and the Jamaican Elaine Thompson and could not be more worthy winners. Duplantis, in 2022, has conquered everything: Outdoor (in Eugene) and indoor (in Belgrade) World Championships, European Championships (in Munich) and Diamond League final (in Zurich), with the accompaniment of three world records , until 6.21 centered in Oregon in the most important appointment. Of the 21 races held during the year (seven indoors, fourteen outdoors) he failed to win only one, the penultimate one, that of the meeting in Brussels. “What other goals do I have? An infinity – he guarantees – I’m young and certain limits remain to be explored”.

She

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McLaughlin, who also got married in 2022 (in May to Andre, a former NFL football player), dominated the 400m hurdles in Eugene with a display of rare superiority. Her 50” 68 bettered her own world record at the June Trials by something like 73/100, a whopping. During the year she remained undefeated: seven successes in her specialty, one in the 4×400, the one that gave him a second world title and one in the 100 hurdles. “This last race, the 400-storey or even those with barriers – he smiles -: for the future I have many alternatives and still many goals to pursue. I rely on my coach Bobby Kersee.”

Rising star

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Yes, the future: the emerging stars of the year are two eighteen year olds. The American sprinter Erryon Knighton (the first in history to deserve the award for the second time), world bronze in the 200m, a specialty in which he brought his personal record to a super 19″49 and the Serbian javelin thrower Adriana Vilagos, European silver and world gold junior. In 2018 the same recognition awarded Duplantis and McLaughlin…