Reigning Chicago marathon champion and world record holder over the distance, Ruth Chepngetich is the only Kenyan finalist shortlisted for the athlete of the year award in the list released on Monday evening by World Athletics.
The top two leading athletes in each category—track, field, and out of stadium—have been chosen from the first round of voting, which comprised votes from the World Athletics Council, the World Athletics Family, and a public vote on social media.
This year’s awards will now include a final round of voting, conducted by sports fans, to determine the overall World Athlete of the Year. The voting will take place from November 4–10.
Chepng’etich is competing for the Women’s Out of Stadium Athlete of the Year award after her outstanding season that saw her winning the Chicago Marathon in a world record time of 2:09.56, becoming the 1st ever woman to finish a marathon race below 2 hours and 10 minutes.
The Kenyan will battle for the accolade alongside Olympic marathon champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands.
Finalists
Women’s track athlete of the year
Julien Alfred -Saint Lucia: Olympic 100m champion
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone -USA: Olympic 400m hurdles champion
Men’s track athlete of the year
Jakob Ingebrigtsen -Norway: Olympic 5000m champion
Letsile Tebogo-Botswana: Olympic 200m champion
Women’s field athlete of the year
Yaroslava Mahuchikh -Ukraine: Olympic high jump champion
Nafissatou Thiam-Belgium: Olympic heptathlon champion
Men’s field athlete of the year
Mondo Duplantis -Sweeden: Olympic pole vault champion
Miltiadis Tentoglou-Greece: Olympic long jump champion
Women’s Out of Stadium Athlete of the Year
Ruth Chepngetich -Kenya:world marathon record holder
Sifan Hassan -Netherlands: Olympic marathon champion
Men’s out of stadium athlete of the year
Brian Pintado -Eduador: Olympic 20km race walk champion
Tamirat Tola -Ethiopia: Olympic marathon champion