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Shawnacy Barber at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia: He won the Canadian championship five times
Photo: Mark Schiefelbein / AP
International athletics mourns the loss of former pole vault world champion Shawnacy “Shawn” Barber.
The Canadian died on Wednesday in his home in the US state of Texas at the age of just 29, as Barber's advisor Paul Doyle announced.
The athletics department at his former university, Akron in the US state of Ohio, spoke of “medical complications” on Thursday (local time).
The athlete had been ill for some time, it was said.
No further details were given.
He competed in his last competition four years ago.
The World Athletics Federation also said goodbye to the “outstanding athlete”.
World athletics is deeply saddened by Barber's death, the association said, quoting the athlete's management as saying: "A friend who will never be forgotten.
He will be greatly missed." Former world record holder Renaud Lavillenie from France said: "The pole vault family has lost an amazing person.
We will never forget you."
Barber, who also had a US passport, had already reached the peak of his career by winning the title at the 2015 World Cup in Beijing.
In his World Cup triumph in China with 5.90 m, Barber prevailed over German Raphael Holzdeppe, who was the same height, and had to settle for silver.
In the same year, Barber also won the Pan American Games in Toronto, before disappointment with a tenth place finish at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
With his personal best of 5.93 m, Canada's five-time champion also set a national outdoor record.
In 2016, Barber once exceeded the 6.00 m mark at an indoor meet.
The jump made Barber the youngest athlete to reach this mark at the time.
His father competed in the pole vault for Canada at the first World Athletics Championships in 1983.
hen/ast/dpa/sid/Reuters