Shawn Barber, a 29-year-old Canadian pole vault champion, passed away, his agent Paul Doyle confirmed to some news sources thursday.
In January 2016, Barber broke the men’s pole vault record in Canada. He won the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, later that year, and he also took home a gold medal from the Pan American Games in Toronto in 2015.
Barber passed suddenly on Wednesday at his Kingwood, Texas, home due to medical issues, according per an announcement from the athletic department of the University of Akron.
Barber competed in track and field at the University of Akron, where he won three NCAA titles while a student-athlete.
“Barber had become ill and had been in poor health for a while,” the statement from the athletic department stated.
According to the statement, the institution remembers Barber as “a well-liked teammate and competitor.”
Doyle told the Associated Press, and he later confirmed this to CNN, that Shawn was “more than just an incredible athlete, Shawn was such a good-hearted person that always put others before himself.” “Losing such a nice person at such a young age is tragic.”
At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Barber made his Olympic debut and qualified for the final, which Brazilian Thiago Braz ultimately won.
According to Olympics.com, his best vault was six meters, which is still the Canadian record.
Barber’s mother Ann, father George, and brother David survive him, according to a statement from the University of Akron.
