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World record-breaking Mondo Duplantis of Sweden and Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela were named the Men’s and Women’s World Athletes of the Year on Saturday.
In a season to remember, mostly due to COVID-19 hit programming, Duplantis broke the world record for men’s pole vault twice.
The 21-year-old cleared 6.17m and 6.18m on consecutive weekends in February, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic brought athletics to a halt.
When the competition finally resumed, Duplantis capped his season by producing the tallest outdoor canopy of all time (6.15m) and finished the year undefeated in 16 competitions.
“It was a really weird season, for me and everyone, but I was able to put it together and get some pretty good results,” Duplantis said.
“When everything closed and things were delayed until the end of the season, I was able to find some good form there too, which, for me, was more impressive than my indoor season because I had had two months off.
Rojas also reached form in the short season, breaking the South American record for indoor triple jump in his first competition of the year, reaching 15.03m in Metz, France.
He then jumped 15.43 m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Madrid to break the world indoor track record by seven centimeters.
“This victory means a lot to me and to everyone who works with me every day, everyone who gives me strength and motivation every day,” said Rojas.
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