Shawn Barber

Pole vaulter Shawnacy Barber entered the 2016 Olympic Games as the reigning world champion from 2015, securing Canada’s first world title in athletics in 12 years. In 2017, he reached the world final, finishing in eighth place.

Barber made his international breakthrough in 2012 with his bronze medal at the World Junior Championships. After winning the 2015 NCAA title, he went on to capture gold at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. A two-time Commonwealth Games medalist (2018 silver, 2014 bronze), Barber set the Canadian record holder at 6.00m in January 2016 at the Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nevada, becoming the 19th and youngest man (age 21) to join the 6-metre club, and the ninth to do it indoors.

A five-time Canadian champion, in July 2016 Barber tested positive for cocaine at the Canadian Championships. He claimed the drug entered his system through kissing a woman who had taken the drug just before his encounter with her, a defence upheld by the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada, in a decision made just four days before the Rio 2016 Olympic pole vault final. Despite being favoured for gold, he struggled in the qualifying round and finished 10th overall.

Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA, Barber held dual Canadian-American citizenship due to his father George being born in Ontario, Canada. In January 2024 at the age of 29, Barber passed away at his residence in Kingwood, Texas, USA, succumbing to medical complications.