Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas was crowned as the Best Latin American and Caribbean Athlete of 2021 after closing today the 57th edition of the Prensa Latina Sports Poll.

Havana, December 21 (RHC)-- Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas was crowned as the Best Latin American and Caribbean Athlete of 2021 after closing today the 57th edition of the Prensa Latina Sports Poll.

Rojas, world and Olympic record holder in the triple jump in Tokyo 2020, received 73 votes from the 103 media from 20 countries that participated in the Poll.

Trained by former Cuban jumper Ivan Pedroso, the Venezuelan athlete, with a height of 15 meters and 67 centimeters, pulverized the old record of 15.50 meters set 26 years ago, on August 10, 1995 in Gothenburg, Sweden, by Ukrainian Inessa Kravets.

In addition, the double world title holder also won the Diamond League, added the best indoor record in the specialty and finished among the finalists for the award of Best Female Athlete of 2021 for World Athletics.

With the award, Rojas makes her debut in the historical list of the poll, in which her coach certified her name in 1995, 1997 and 2001.

Behind the jumper from the Venezuelan city of Puerto La Cruz, the Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah, owner of 11 ballots, and the Dominican Marileidy Paulino, with five.

In the men's category, the most outstanding was Cuba's Miajín López, winner of his fourth consecutive gold medal in the Japanese summer event.

The Argentine men's soccer team, led by Lionel Messi, won the Copa America 2021 after beating Brazil, led by his friend Neymar Junior, in the final at the Maracana stadium itself.

After the suspension in 2020 by Covid-19, the Annual Survey of Prensa Latina launched its 57th version on November 8 and closed the voting process on December 17.