Year in athletics: Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis shines, the US enjoys a stellar year
Doping still lingers over the sport, with Kenyan and Russian athletes the biggest offenders
The perennial battle between adulation and scepticism summed up the year in athletics as fans were treated to some mind-blowing performances against the usual depressing backdrop of doping that left everyone unsure whether to clap or cry.
On the positive side, the blip caused by Covid meant the sport held a third world championships in four years and the 20th edition in Tokyo delivered an almost constant stream of brilliant performances and incredible finishes, as well as delivering medals to 53 nations.
Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis shone on the biggest stage again, setting his 14th pole vault world record in front of a spellbound 57,000 crowd and was duly crowned Male Athlete of the Year.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, having done all she could in the 400 metres hurdles, seamlessly switched to the flat and erased Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 42-year-old championship record, earning the Female Athlete of the Year award as a result.
The US also ruled the short sprints through the irrepressible Noah Lyles and calmly devastating triple champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.
A succession of incredible finishes in longer races meant the combined winning margin of the men’s 1,500m, 3,000m steeplechase, 10,000m and marathon was an astonishing 0.18 seconds.