Athletics: Nominations for ‘World Athlete of the Year’ announced

World Athletics announced the nominations of the ‘World Athlete of the Year’ on Monday. The winners of this coveted award in athletics will be tough to choose.

Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey had smashed the womens’ 5,000 meters world record in October last year. She is one of the nominees this year.

The 22 year old long distance runner shaved more than four seconds off the previous mark with an awe-striking time 14 min 06.62 seconds. She achieved this feat in a specially arranged race in the Spanish city of Valencia. The race featured flashing lights at the track perimeter to guide the athlete’s pace.

Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei broke the 10,000 meters men’s world record at the same meet. He finished with the time of 26:11.00. He has also been nominated for the prestigious award.

In the season curtailed due to the coronavirus pandemic and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, the Ugandan long distance runner added a world record to his name in 5,000 meters.

Swedish pole vaulter, Armand Duplantis is also one of the nominees this year. The 20 year old has been making a lot of right noise in the tournaments in the past couple of months.

He has rewritten the pole vault world record by breaking Ukrainian legend Surgey Bubka’s outdoor world record of 6.15 meters at the Rome Diamond League. Duplantis had, earlier in the season, had set the mark of 6.18 in the indoor competitions.

Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo is another contender for the award. He set won the World Half Marathon in a record time of 58 min 49 seconds.

The winners will be announced at the World Athletics Awards on 5th Decemeber.

Women’s nominees are:

Femke Bol (Netherlands), Letesenbet Gidey (Ethiopia), Sifan Hassan (Netherlands), Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya), Faith Kipyegon (Kenya), Laura Muir (Great Britain), Hellen Obiri (Kenya), Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela), Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica), Ababel Yeshaneh (Ethiopia)

Men’s nominees are:

Donavan Brazier (USA), Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda), Timothy Cheruiyot (Kenya), Ryan Crouser (USA), Armand Duplantis (Sweden), Jacob Kiplimo (Uganda), Noah Lyles (USA), Daniel Stahl (Sweden), Johannes Vetter (Germany), Karsten Warholm (Norway)

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