NAIROBI, Kenya, October 21 – For the second year running, double world record holder Faith Kipyegon will be looking to close out the year on a high after she was nominated for World Athletics’ track athlete of the year award in the ladies’ category.
Kipyegon is coming off another record-breaking season where she cemented her name in history books by winning the Olympic 1500m title for the third year running — the only female to do so for the race.
In addition, she bagged silver at the summer games after timing 14:29.60 to finish second in the women’s 5000m.
The triple world 1500m champion also recovered from initial injury struggles at the beginning of the season to set a new world record of 3:49.04 at the Paris Diamond League in early July.
The icing on the cake was a fifth Diamond League trophy, confirmed when she won at the Brussels Diamond League by clocking 3:54.75.
Beatrice’s bountiful blessings
Also nominated for the same award is another Kenyan, Beatrice Chebet, who also made history at the Paris Olympics by winning the country’s first-ever title for the women’s 10,000m.
It followed another gold in the women’s 5000m, where she clocked 14:28.56 to outsprint Kipyegon to the finish line.
Those who had been keenly following her progress towards a debut Olympics appearance would have expected this historic feat.
On June 25, Chebet smashed the world record for the women’s 10,000m, clocking 28:54.14 at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon.
The 25-year-old also successfully defended her World Cross Country women’s title, clocking 31:05 to triumph at the Friends’ Park in Belgrade, Serbia in March.
Rivalling Kipyegon and Chebet for the award are four other athletes who have similarly done more than enough to justify their inclusion in the elite list.
They include Olympics 100m champion Julian Alfred, who clinched her country’s first-ever gold at the quadrennial games in Paris as well as Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino who won the women’s 400m.
United States’ Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone — who smashed the women’s 400m hurdles world record — and Gabby Thomas — the Olympics 200m champion — are also in contention.
Wanyonyi’s rising star
The men’s category includes Olympics 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi who has done justice to the Rising Star award he won at last year’s gala in Monaco.
The 20-year-old won his first title in the senior ranks when he ran 1:41.19 to clinch the men’s 800m at the Paris Olympics.
It was a long time coming for the 2021 World Under 20 champion who had shone in the Diamond League circuit as well as other invitational competitions around the globe.
A world record of 3:54.6 for the mile at the Adizero Roads to Record in Herzogenaurach, Germany in April was enough warning to all and sundry that this was an athlete determined to dominate 2024.
Come the Kip Keino Classic World Continental Tour in Nairobi — two weeks later — and Wanyonyi continued in the same rich vein of form when he clocked a world lead of 1:43.57.
In the aftermath of the Paris Olympics, the youngster clocked 1:41.11 at the Lausanne Diamond League to become the second fastest runner in the men’s 800m — alongside Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer.
Despite stiff opposition from Canada’s Marco Arop, Frenchman Gabriel Tual and Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, Wanyonyi has exhibited admirable mental fortitude to continuously finish in the top three.
With David Rudisha’s world record of 1:40.91 — set at the 2012 London Olympics — up for grabs, Wanyonyi’s career trajectory suggests he could be the one to succeed his fellow countryman as the universe’s fastest.
The male track athlete of the year award may just be the small push he needs to reach this higher mark, although competition for this accolade is just as stiff.
His rivals for the award include another African, Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, who made history as the first from the continent to win the Olympic 200m title in Paris.
The shortlist also comprises three Americans: Noah Lyles (Olympic 100m champion); Grant Holloway (Olympic 110m hurdles champion) and Rai Benjamin (Olympic 400m hurdles champion and 4x400m champion).
Completing the list is Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigsten who won the Olympic 5000m title and boasts the world record for the 3000m.
Voting closes on October 27 and will be carried out on all social media platforms.
