World Athletics has released the 2022’s Men and Women World Athlete of the Year nominee lists, featuring three Africans in the star-studded 10 male and 10 female lists.
Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge and Faith Kipyegon, and Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, would look forward to bringing glory to the continent by winning the gong.
Voting for the awards closes on Monday 31 October and after the voting process, five female and five male finalists will be announced by the governing body ahead of the World Athletics Awards in December.
Speaking on how winners of the award would be selected, World Athletics in a statement on its website said, “The winners of what should be a very competitive year for the top awards will be announced after a three-way voting process by the World Athletics Council, the World Athletics Family, and the public”.
According to World Athletics, “fans can vote online via the World Athletics social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube this week; a ‘like’ on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.”
The fan vote comprises 25% of the total, with the World Athletics Council vote making 50% and the World Athletics Family counting for the other 25%.
Kipchoge confirmed his legendary status with his second career marathon world record in Berlin of 2:01:09, which was 30 seconds faster than his 2018 winning time. His fourth Berlin Marathon title was his second win this year after running the fastest time ever at the Tokyo Marathon.
Amusan is the world 100m hurdles champion, and the Diamond League, Commonwealth, and African 100m hurdles champion. Amusan also dashed to the 100m hurdles world record of 12.12 seconds in Oregon.
Kipyegon won her second World 1500m title and added the Diamond League trophy in the same distance shortly after, lowering her own national record to 3:50.37, which is just three-tenths of a second off the world record.
Men’s Athlete of the Year longlist:
Kristjan Ceh (SLO)
Alison dos Santos (BRA)
Mondo Duplantis (SWE)
Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR)
Grant Holloway (USA)
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR)
Eliud Kipchoge (KEN)
Noah Lyles (USA)
Anderson Peters (GRN)
Pedro Pichardo (POR)
Women’s World Athlete of the Year longlist:
Tobi Amusan, Nigeria
Chase Ealey, USA
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jamaica
Kimberly Garcia, Peru
Shericka Jackson, Jamaica
Faith Kipyegon, Kenya
Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Ukraine
Sydney McLaughlin, USA
Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Bahamas
Yulimar Rojas, Venezuela
