Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis has won the AIPS Best Male Athlete award for the second straight year after receiving the most votes from 836 journalists across 121 countries. Other track and field athletes on the list included Americans Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Valarie Allman, Kenyans Beatrice Chebet and Faith Kipyegon, and Dutch star Femke Bol. The International Sports Press Association organized the annual poll.
Duplantis, who broke several world records this past season, dominated the voting ahead of Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz and French footballer Ousmane Dembele. His winning performance came after a remarkable 2025 season where the former LSU representative broke the world record four times and remained unbeaten in all competitions.
Read more: Mondo Duplantis and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Earn 2025 World Athlete of the Year Awards
The 25-year-old cleared 6.27 meters in Clermont-Ferrand, 6.28m in Stockholm, 6.29m in Budapest, and 6.30m in Tokyo to win his third consecutive world title. He has now broken the men’s pole vault world record 14 times since February 2020.
Additionally, Duplantis made history by becoming the first male pole vaulter in modern times to go undefeated both indoors and outdoors for two years in a row. He also captured his third world indoor title in Nanjing and his fifth straight Diamond League championship in Zurich.
The achievement adds to his growing collection of honors this year. World Athletics named him Athlete of the Year for the third time, and he won the BBC World Sport Star award for the second consecutive year.
Spanish footballer Aitana Bonmati won the AIPS Best Female Athlete award. Track and field athletes filled five spots in the women’s top 10, including Kenyan runners Beatrice Chebet in second place and Faith Kipyegon in eighth.
Meanwhile, American hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone finished fourth, Dutch athlete Femke Bol placed fifth, and American discus thrower Valarie Allman rounded out the rankings in tenth position.
