NAIROBI, Kenya, November 5 – World record holder for the women’s marathon, Ruth Chepng’etich, is the only Kenyan in the final list of nominees for the World Athletics athletes of the year awards.
The Chicago Marathon champion has been nominated in the out of stadium female athlete of the year category where she will battle with Olympic women’s marathon champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands.
Other Kenyans who had earlier been nominated but did not make it to the shortlist include: triple Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon and world 10,000m record holder Beatrice Chebet (female track athlete of the year), Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi (male track athlete of the year), world 10km record holder Agnes Ngetich (out of stadium female athlete of the year) as well as Olympic marathon bronze medalist Benson Kipruto (out of stadium male athlete of the year).
In a statement, World Athletics (WA) said the top two leading athletes in every category had been chosen after a first round of voting.
“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, World Athletics Family and a public vote on social media. One of these two athletes will take the crown in their category,” the federation said.
Chepng’etich made history at last month’s Chicago Marathon as the first female marathoner to clock a sub-2:10 in the 42km.
She stopped the timer at 2:09:56 to etch her name in history books as one of the best long distance runners in the game.
Her contender for the title, Hassan, won the Olympic marathon title in Paris, having won bronze in the women’s 5000m and 10,000m in the same event.
The Dutchwoman had a marathon debut to remember when she clocked 2:18:33 to win in London in April last year.
Fans will be allowed a final round of voting between November 4-10 ahead of the award ceremony on December 1 in Monaco.
Still champions
Despite missing out on the shortlist, the aforementioned athletes have been a force to reckon with in their respective disciplines.
Kipyegon, last year’s winner of the female track athlete of the year award, won her third straight Olympic title in Paris — following on from success in Rio and Tokyo.
The triple world champion also smashed her previous world record in the women’s 1500m, clocking 3:49.04 at the Paris Diamond League in early July.
Her fellow Kenyan, Chebet, set a world record of 28:54.14 in the women’s 10,000m at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon.
She became the first Kenyan to win the women’s 10,000m title at the Olympics and the second — since Vivian Cheruiyot in 2016 — to win the women’s 5000m.
Largely hailed as David Rudisha’s heir, Wanyonyi has done justice to the tag by setting the second fastest time (1:41.11) in the men’s 800m at the Lausanne Diamond League.
This was after clinching his first title in the senior ranks at the Paris Olympics.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Ngetich clocked a world record of 28:46 at the Valencia Ibercaja 10km road race in January.
She also clocked 1:03:04 to win the women’s race at the Valencia Half Marathon, a fortnight ago.
Meanwhile, Kipruto set a course record of 2:02:16 to win the Tokyo Marathon in March before bagging bronze at his Olympic debut in Paris.
