Paris: Six stars, namely Armand Duplantis, Noah Lyles, Faith Kipyegon, Kelvin Kiptum, Yulimar Rojas and Tigist Assefa have been announced as World Athletes of the Year for 2023 by World Athletics, the global governing body of the sport.
It is the first time for World Athletics to name six “Athletes of the Year”, who were divided into three event categories – track, field and out of stadia, reports Xinhua.
Sweden’s Duplantis was named men’s field athlete of the year as the 24-year-old improved his world pole vault record both indoors and outdoors in 2023. He also retained his world title at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Venezuela’s triple jumper Rojas grabbed her fourth straight world title and third consecutive Diamond League trophy in the current season to be named women’s field athlete of the year.
Kenyan distance runner Kipyegon and American sprinter Lyles were named the women’s and men’s track athletes of the year. The 29-year-old Kipyegon set three world records in 1500m, 5000m and one mile during the season and also won two gold medals at Budapest worlds.
Lyles, 26, notched three gold medals in Budapest in men’s 100m, 200m and 4X100m relay, making him the first man to manage the feat after Jamaica’s sprinting legend Usain Bolt.
Kiptum and Assefa were both named men’s and women’s out of stadia athletes for their world record breaking feats. Ethiopian Assefa clocked 2:11:53 to win the Berlin Marathon in September, improving the world record by more than two minutes.
Kenya’s Kiptum, 23, became the first man to run a marathon in under 2:01 hours in October, as he took the Chicago Marathon title in 2:00:35, breaking the previous record set by compatriot Eliud Kipchoge. The rising Kenyan also won the title at London Marathon in April.
Just one year on from his marathon debut, Kiptum now has three of the seven fastest times in history to his name.
–IANS