McLaughlin-Levrone and Duplantis: 2025 World Athlete of the Year winners join Usain Bolt and Richard-Ross in iconic milestones

Track and field superstars Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Mondo Duplantis have joined the legendary Usain Bolt and Sanya Richards-Ross in attaining iconic milestones as multiple World Athlete of the Year award winners.

The American sprint queen and Swedish pole vault hero were announced as the World Athletes of the Year on Sunday, November 30th, in recognition of their standout achievements in 2025 on an evening that saw six athletes crowned in three categories – track, field, and out of stadium – before the two overall winners were confirmed.

After being named winners, Duplantis and McLaughlin-Levrone joined an exclusive list of winners who have won this award multiple times.

Bolt (6) and Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj (3) are the only men in history to have won World Athletics Athlete of the Year three or more times, while McLaughlin-Levrone became the first woman to win the award multiple times since American 400m legend Richards-Ross.

In 2025, Duplantis set four world pole vault records and was undefeated in 16 competitions, his wins including world titles both indoors and outdoors. The 26-year-old is the first male pole vaulter in modern history to go undefeated for two successive years.

He set world records of 6.27m in Clermont-Ferrand, 6.28m in Stockholm, 6.29m in Budapest, and 6.30m at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025, and won a fifth consecutive Diamond League title.

McLaughlin-Levrone has remained undefeated for two years in both the 400m flat (her main event in 2025) and the 400m hurdles, extending her winning streak in that discipline to 24 races.

The 26-year-old won the world 400m title in Tokyo in a North American record of 47.78, breaking a 42-year-old championship record with the second-fastest 400m of all time. As a result, she became the first athlete to have ever won world titles in both the 400m flat and 400m hurdles, following her win in the latter in Oregon in 2022. She also formed part of USA’s victorious 4x400m team in Tokyo.

Duplantis was also announced as the men’s field athlete of the year, and McLaughlin-Levrone as the women’s track athlete of the year, as both claimed double recognitions on the night.