Duplantis, Rojas named World athletes of year

By Emre Asikci

ISTANBUL (AA) - Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis and Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas were named the male and female World Athletes of the Year, the World Athletics announced on Saturday.

"It was a really strange season, for me and everybody, but I was able to put it together and get some pretty good results," Duplantis said on worldathletics.org.

Duplantis broke the world record in the men's pole vault twice, topping 6.17 meters and 6.18 meters on back-to-back weekends in February.

The 21-year-old is the youngest athlete ever named World Athlete of the Year.

Rojas, 25, leaped 15.43 meters at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Spain's capital, Madrid to break the world indoor record by seven centimeters.

"It is such a joy and I'm filled with happiness. Just being one of the finalists felt like winning to me; being nominated among other exceptional athletes was already a wonderful achievement," Rojas said in a statement.