Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas competes in women’s triple jump final at IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, October 5, 2019. (Xinhua / Li Ming)
Sweden’s 21-year-old pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, who set two world records this season, became the youngest winner of this year’s male world athlete ever, with the award World Athlete of the Year to Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas, who set a world record for triple jump indoors.
CARACAS, December 5 (Xinhua) – Armand Duplantis and Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas were named world athletes on Saturday.
Duplantis began the year by breaking the world record of 6.16 meters set by Renaud Lavillenie in 2014 with efforts of 6.17 and 6.18 m, and on November 10, he broke the 26-year world record outdoors of 6.14 m set by Ukraine Sergei Bubka when he cleared 6.15 in Rome.
Rojas won four competitions this year, both indoors and outdoors, in addition to breaking the world record indoors with a historic 15.43 meters.
The nominees’ fields also included the Ugandan long-distance runner Joshua Cheptegei, Norway’s world champion in the 400 m hurdles Karsten Warholm, the American Olympic champion Ryan Crouser and Johannes Vetter from Germany.
In an interview with World Athletics, Rojas said that she was very surprised and pleased with the historical difference and added that it was just a great achievement to be nominated.
“Being the best athlete of the year will be a great motivation for 2021, a very beautiful year where I have many ambitions and expectations,” said Rojas, who will participate in the Tokyo Olympics.
The other four finalists for the women’s award were: Sifan Hassan, a 10,000 m runner from the Netherlands; Letesenbet Gidey, a 5000 m runner from Ethiopia; Peres Jepchirchir, a half marathon runner from Kenya; and Elaine Thompson-Herah, a 100m runner from Jamaica.
The winners of the World Athletics Annual Awards are determined by the World Athletics Council, which represents 50 percent of the votes, while the other 50 percent of the votes are shared between the public and the World Athletics Family.
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