World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge has made it into the five-man shortlist for the 2019 IAAF Male Athlete of the Year award alongside Uganda’s 10,000m world champion Joshua Cheptegei.
Kipchoge had been in the initial list alongside world 15000m champion Timothy Cheruiyot who has unfortunately not made it to the penultimate shortlist.
He will look to win the IAAF top award for a second consecutive time alongside Cheptegei, USA’s pole vaulter Sam Kendricks, American sprinter Noah Lyles and Norwegian 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm.
Kipchoge set the world record in Berlin last year, leading to his award at the end of the season. This year, he has only participated in two races, the London Marathon which he successfully clinched as well as the historic Ineos 159 challenge in Austria where he became the first man to run a marathon under two hours.
A three-way vote decided the final shortlist of five, whittled down from the initial 11. The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans voted online via our social media platforms. The Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result.
The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced at the World Athletics Awards 2019 to be staged in Monaco on November 23.
Top five shortlist
Joshua Cheptegei (UGA)
– won world cross-country title in Aarhus
– won world 10,000m title in a world-leading 26:48.36
– won Diamond League 5000m title
Sam Kendricks (USA)
– won world pole vault title
– cleared a world-leading 6.06m to win the US title
– won 12 of his 17 outdoor competitions, including the Diamond League final
Eliud Kipchoge (KEN)
– won London Marathon in a course record of 2:02:37
– ran 1:59:40.2 for 42.195km in Vienna
Noah Lyles (USA)
– won world 200m and 4x100m titles
– ran a world-leading 19.50 in Lausanne to move to fourth on the world all-time list
– won Diamond League titles at 100m and 200m
Karsten Warholm (NOR)
– won the world 400m hurdles title
– undefeated indoors and outdoors at all distances, including at the Diamond League final and the European Indoor Championships
– clocked world-leading 46.92, the second-fastest time in history
This article was first published by Capital Sports.
