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Shawn Barber - Signs with Nike and Looks to the Future - IAAF World Outdoor Championships 2015

Published by
DyeStatPRO.com   Aug 31st 2015, 8:26pm
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From NCAA Champion to World Championship Gold Medalist

By Adam Schneider

With the recent news of Canadian Shawn Barber signing with agent Paul Doyle and Nike after the IAAF World Outdoor Championships, we caught up with the gold medallist. Here we touch on what he plans for the rest of the season and what his plans are for next year. 

Adam Schneider (AS): It sounds like you hired an agent, Paul Doyle, early this summer. When did you decide?

Shawn Barber (SB): We have been in talks with several people throughout the summer to get an idea of everything. I knew if I did decide to turn pro, I wanted to be prepared and confident that I was making a good choice as to which agent and company I would go with.

AS: So you didn't sign with an agent until you medalled?

SB: I have signed with both Nike and Doyle Management and I am confident in those choices. Getting gold kind of finalized everything for me. I didn't want to make any decisions until I was sure. I was working with Paul to an extent before though.

AS: Were you still trying to keep your options open as far as college eligibility?

SB: Yes. Even though I was 95% sure.

AS: What would have kept you from signing?

SB: Performing poorly in Europe and Beijing. This summer was my first tour of Europe and my first experience with the professional athlete lifestyle. I was testing myself and making sure I was ready for it.

AS: How great was it to have Clayton (his Akron teammate Clayton Murphy) at the World Championships?

SB: It was cool! It makes it easy to be proud of my uni!

AS: How did the other vaulters treat and respond to you after you won at the World Championships? I know Lavillenie was disappointed - looking for his first world title.

SB: The other vaulters seemed happy. Yes, he was disappointed but the others seemed happy from me.

AS: Which meets are left for you this season?

SB: I have five more meets, the first of which is Zurich in three days.

AS: Do you plan on changing anything this next year? 

SB: I am not going to change much. Some things will have to change but going into an Olympic year means that I want to avoid most of the surprises.

AS: What are the surprises you mention?

SB: Surprises you put on yourself like changing coaches, changing training facilities, what you eat, etc. One of the most important conversations I had this summer was with Coach Mitchell at UA about me being able to train there with him and continuing my studies (working with Mitchell and my father). 

Having his support has meant the world to me and to lose that, especially during an Olympic year, could be disastrous. Hopefully the only thing that will change is the support and level of competitions.

AS: Are you going to keep your current living situation? Are you thinking about taking next spring off? Will you be competing at World Indoors?

SB: I am looking to compete at World Indoors, hopefully. I think it would be a good experience! I actually don't have my living situation planned out yet. It is something I need to look into when I get back to Akron. It'll make for a stressful first week back.

AS: What is the plan for the length of the pole next year?

SB: I have 5.38m poles now and still have some room to move up on the top so the plan is to stay on those poles and really learn how to jump on them.

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