The global awards for track and field crowned two familiar forces this week, signalling a year where brilliance felt almost routine yet still left crowds stunned. Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis and America’s Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone were named World Athletes of the Year after seasons that stretched the limits of their sports.
A Year Where Duplantis Looked Untouchable
Duplantis didn’t just win pole vault competitions in 2025 — he practically rearranged the expectations around them.
In event after event, he cleared heights that once belonged to fever dreams. Then he went higher.
This season included four fresh world records, each one nudging the conversation forward: how far can one athlete stretch the physics of a fiberglass pole?
He also stayed undefeated through 16 contests. Sixteen. That stat alone would have been enough to command headlines, but paired with yet another Diamond League title — his fifth in a row — it turned his year into something resembling myth.
One paragraph is enough to realize why his peers keep writing his name on award ballots.
And yes, he joked about it. “I hope to keep irritating everyone who has to vote for me for years to come,” he said, half-laughing, half-daring himself to go again.
The recognition carried a special weight for him. Field athletes often drift in and out of the spotlight depending on who’s sprinting fast that week or whose record is tumbling. “It’s really important for me to win this for the field eventers,” Duplantis said, sounding both proud and a bit relieved. “I’m going to really cherish this one.”
A one-sentence paragraph fits neatly here.
His confidence was obvious all year. So was an ease that made enormously technical vaults look almost playful, like he’d found the sport’s cheat codes and never bothered hiding them.
McLaughlin-Levrone’s Perfection Streak Stretches Into a Second Year
Where Duplantis defied gravity, McLaughlin-Levrone rewrote what smooth speed looks like on a track.
She didn’t lose a single race in 2025 — in either the flat 400 meters or the 400-meter hurdles. Two events that chew up even elite athletes. She won them both. For two straight seasons.
Her 47.78 in Tokyo, the second-fastest 400m in history, blew the stadium open. Analysts spent days replaying the race, pausing screens, pulling up velocity charts, trying to decode the run. Fans didn’t need any of that. They just felt how surreal it looked.
Then came the statistic that may hold up for decades: she became the first athlete ever to win world titles in both the 400m and the 400m hurdles.
And she still wasn’t done.
McLaughlin-Levrone anchored the U.S. 4x400m relay to a gold medal, extending her Tokyo haul and giving coaches yet another reason to shake their heads in admiration.
One sentence again, for rhythm.
“Wow, I’m honestly blown away to win this,” she said when the award was announced. It sounded sincere, almost shy, as if the entire track world hadn’t been orbiting around her performances all year.
This felt like a season of testing the edges — mental edges, physical edges, the little cliff between greatness and absurd greatness. “2025 was a year of stepping outside of the comfort zone and pushing the bounds of what was mentally and physically possible,” she said, capturing the blunt truth of her entire campaign.
A Spotlight Shared by Two Generational Talents
Their combined seasons tell a story that’s unusually symmetrical: two 26-year-olds, two undefeated streaks, two athletes rewriting the language of their sports.
They didn’t merely win titles. They removed drama from events that normally thrive on it.
A one-sentence paragraph breaks the pattern nicely.
The numbers feel like they belong in a video game, but the pair made them real across Tokyo’s world stage and through a packed season stretching from spring to early autumn.
Below is a simple comparison — the sort of table statisticians and fans have been trading online ever since the awards were announced:
| Athlete | Age | 2025 Record | Titles Won | Historic Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mondo Duplantis | 26 | Undefeated (16 wins) | World Champs Gold, Diamond League Champion | Broke pole vault world record 4 times |
| Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone | 26 | Undefeated (2 years) | World titles in 400m & 400m hurdles, Relay Gold | First athlete to win both 400m & 400m hurdles world titles |
Fans didn’t need charts to know they were watching something rare, but the numbers add clarity to instincts that formed during the season.
One sentence to let the information breathe.
These are athletes who carry whole sports on their shoulders without flinching. Duplantis with his almost physics-mocking vaults, McLaughlin-Levrone with races that feel choreographed by some unseen force.
Track and Field Finds Its Headliners for a New Era
This award cycle felt like confirmation. The sport isn’t short of stars, but every few years, a pair rises far above the others and gives the calendar a shape — the kind that makes people remember what they were doing on the afternoon a world record fell.
Some paragraphs need only one sentence.
Their dominance has not only pushed performance higher but reintroduced a sense of joy to events that often drown in pressure. Talk to coaches, analysts, even rivals, and they keep landing on the same sentiment: these two make greatness look strangely fun.
That matters more than it sounds. Athletics thrives on wonder — on those moments where fans watch a replay five times, then realize they don’t understand what they just saw. Duplantis and McLaughlin-Levrone gave the sport plenty of that.
And they leave 2025 with track and field shaped unmistakably in their image.
