Canadian Olympian and former pole vault champion Shawn Barber has died at the age of 29.
Barber's agent confirmed the news to the Associated Press and said Barber died on Wednesday at his home in Kingwood, Texas. His cause of death is unknown at this point, but the AP says Barber had been dealing with health issues.
Why you should care: Barber had achieved many accomplishments as a Canadian athlete. He won gold at the 2015 world championships in Beijing, China, set the Canadian men's pole vault record of 6.00 metres in 2016 and later went to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics, according to TSN.
What they're saying: Narcity reached out to Barber's management company, Doyle Management Group, but it said it would not be releasing any more information at this time "in respect of the family's wishes."
Fellow Canadian athletes and friends of Barber are sharing their condolences online following the news of his death.
Canadian athlete Alysha Newman is remembering Barber as a "teammate, dear friend and confidant."
"To many, Shawn is known as one of the greatest male Pole Vaulters of all-time but to me, Shawn changed the way I lived life. With Shawn around there was never a bad day," Newman wrote in an Instagram post and shared photos of her and Barber together.
"Today I am sad but tomorrow I’ll be thankful for the love, the advice and adventures we had because that is what Shawn would have wanted."
Macedonian-Danish long jumper Andreas Trajkovski also shared his condolences in an Instagram story on Wednesday.
"Gone way too soon...so sad... RIP," he wrote.
Andreas Trajkovski sharing his condolences following the news of Shawn Barber's death.@andreas_trajkovski | Instagram
Barber's management company, Doyle Management, shared a statement on Wednesday following the news, saying Barber "will be greatly missed."
Athletics Canada tweeted a post about Barber writing, "Our thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Shawn Barber."
Fans are also remembering Barber and sharing clips of his previous competitions online.
"Once a champion, always a champion, RIP," one tweet reads.
ICYMI: Barber was a dual Canadian-American citizen who split his time between Canada and the U.S., according to the Canadian Press via CTV News.
Barber's gold win at the 2015 world championships in Beijing, China was "Canada's first athletes world title in 12 years at the time and its first-ever worlds pole vault medal," as reported by the Canadian Press.
The Canadian athlete went on to compete at many more competitions after that, including at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games where he won bronze and silver medals and the 2016 Rio Olympics where he came in 10th.
His last competition was in 2020.
Keep reading: The Olympics website has a video of Barber's highlights from the 2016 Rio Olympic Games where you can watch the athlete's achievements. He also spoke to World Athletics about how it felt to win gold at the 2015 world championships in Beijing.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.