Triple Olympic champion in 1500m Faith Kipyegon, double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet, and 800m Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi have been nominated for the World Track Athletes of the Year awards in the gala set for Monaco in December 2024.
Kipyegon, who won the award last year, has been nominated following her exceptional performance this season, where she broke the 1500m world record besides retaining her Olympic title in the same distance in Paris, France, a 3rd Olympic gold in a row.
She also won a silver medal in the 5,000m in last summer’s Olympic games before summing up her season with a Diamond League trophy.
Chebet also posted a phenomenal performance this year in track, breaking the 10,000m World Record before icing it with bagging gold medals in both 5,000m and 10,000m at the Paris Olympics.
The Kenyan duo will battle it out with other Olympic champions for the coveted award, including Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia, who won gold in 100m as well as a gold medal in the World Indoor 60m and a silver medal over 200m at the Olympics.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, an American, has also been nominated for the prize. She broke the world record in the 400-meter hurdles and won gold in the 4×400-meter relay at the Olympics in Paris.
The Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, the Olympic and Diamond League 400-meter champion, and American Gabby Thomas, the triple Olympic gold medalist in the 200-, 400-, and 4×100-meter events, are among the other nominees on the initial list.
Emmanuel Wanyonyi will face stiff competition for the men’s accolade from fellow Olympic champions, including Americans Grant Holloway and Noah Lyles, Jacob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo.
Voting for the female Track Athlete of the Year finalists is now open on World Athletics social media platforms and will close on October 27 at 12:59 AM.
