A virtual ceremony was held for this years world athletes of the year awards where Mondo Duplantis and Yulimar Rojas were crowned overall winners.
Duplantis broke the world record twice this year, 6.17m and 6.18m back to back in February. His outdoor campaign resulted in a short season clearing 6.15m, the highest ever height achieved outdoors. Duplantis, who celebrated his 21st birthday this year, is the youngest athlete ever named World Athlete of the Year. The Swede pole vaulter has come along way from being named the rising star at the 2018 awards so being the best ever vaulter in history and still with 10+ years ahead of him its kind of daunting. Who knows what the future holds? But there has been rumours of 6.30m on the cards.
The female award went Yulimar Rojas. The Colombian triple jumper had a 15.03m jump on her first outing of the indoor season before shocking fans in Madrid as she jumped a massive 15.43m breaking the indoor world record by 7cm. As she accepted the award she was overjoyed with delight “I honestly didn't expect this, I really cannot believe it," said Rojas, who received the Rising Star Award in 2017. “It is such a joy and I'm filled with happiness"
2021 will certainly be a year to look forward to, with Wavelight technology and as a result the countless distance world records being broken there will be more to come.
