(Los Angeles) The American Tori Bowie, Olympic vice-champion in the 100m in 2016 then world champion in 2017, died at the age of 32, her sports representation agency and World Athletics announced on Wednesday.

“We have lost a client, a dear friend, a daughter and a sister. Tori was a champion and a real ray of sunshine, “wrote her agency Icon Sport Management on her social networks without providing details on the circumstances of the death.

World Athletics and then the American Athletics Federation (USATF) confirmed the death of the sprinter. “Her sporting legacy is immeasurable, she will be terribly missed,” wrote Max Siegel, director of American athletics, in a statement.

Bowie had forged a big track record in meteoric fashion, first by winning three Olympic medals in 2016 in Rio with gold in the 4x100m relay, silver in the 100m behind Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, and bronze 200m.

She then became world champion in the straight line in 2017 in London, where she also won the 4x100m relay.

After a final feat in 2019 at the Doha Worlds (4th in the long jump), the sprinter from Mississippi (personal best of 10 seconds 78 over 100 m) has never been able to regain her best level.

She had only competed in one official competition in 2022, a 200m in Florida, far from international games.

“My heart is broken thinking of Tori Bowie’s family, a superb rival and a solar person. Your energy and your smile will be with me forever,” wrote Jamaican sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a two-time Olympic 100m champion, on her social media.