Julius Yego celebrates winning the men Javelin gold at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing on August 26, 2015. PHOTO/IAAF/Getty Images
NAIROBI, November 9 – Kenya’s Julius Yego and Polish Anita Wlodarczyk have earned the most votes in the throws category in the first round of voting for the 2015 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award.
Yego won the javelin title at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 with an African record of 92.72m, moving the Kenyan to third on the world all-time list.
Wlodarczyk was utterly dominant this season in the women’s hammer.
The Pole won all 11 of her competitions, including the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015. She also became the first woman to throw beyond 80 metres, setting a world record of 81.08m in Cetniewo in August.
Last month the IAAF Family was asked to select nine men and nine women from each of the following categories: sprints, hurdles, middle and long distance, road running, race walking, jumps, throws, combined events and multi-terrain.
The longlist will comprise the top-voted athletes in each category. The candidates from the other categories in the world athlete of the year voting will be announced over the coming days.
An international panel of 10 experts will then select the finalists – three men and three women – the names of whom will be announced on 17 and 18 November.
From those finalists, the Council of the International Athletics Foundation (IAF) will select the male and female World Athletes of the Year.
The international panel of athletics experts includes representatives from all six continental areas of the IAAF.
