2014 saw a remarkable year for our world and Olympic champion Mutaz Essa Barshim, who left a Qatari mark on every challenge he took part in and established himself as the champion of the present and the future that the International Association of Athletics Federations is banking on to redraw the map of the high jump, after setting a new mark in athletics’ high jump event. Given his young age and his steady rise up the event’s ladder, he is capable of breaking the 2.45m world record in the near future. Barshim fully deserved to be man of the year in the high jump, and was one of the three most prominent champions in athletics that year to compete for the award, which went to Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie, the pole vault champion. Barshim, however, remained the leading nominee from his own event, since his rivals for World Athlete of the Year came from outside the high jump. But through what he achieved as world high jump champion at the World Indoor Championships in Poland, Asian indoor champion, and at the Asian Games, Barshim became an icon of Qatari creativity, catching the world’s attention, with the future still ahead of him after he finished first in the event across the Diamond League season alongside Ukraine’s Bondarenko – confirming that Barshim is, deservedly, the best
