M. KisengeKipchoge in final five-man list for the 2022 World Athlete of the Year award
Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 15.11.22. | 14:00
The World Athletes of the Year will be announced on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December
Marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge has made it to the final five-man list for the 2022 World Athlete of the Year award.
The list had initially ten contestants but the names have been whittled to half with Kipchoge and reigning World and Olympic 3,000m Steeplechase gold medalist Soufiane El Bakkali being the only African athletes in the final list.
Kipchoge had a stellar year as he won the Tokyo Marathon in March which is listed as one of the major races in the globe in a course record of two hours, two minutes and forty seconds.
The multiple Olympic champion wrapped the year in style, smashing his record in the Berlin Marathon held in September. Kipchoge clocked 2:01:09 shaving a massive thirty seconds from his previous record reaped on the same course in 2018.
Kipchoge has previously won the award twice in 2018 and 2019 and will be bidding to lay hands on it for the third time.
The five athletes, who represent five countries from three area associations, have achieved sensational performances across a range of athletics disciplines in 2022, at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world.
Mondo Duplantis, Sweden
- World pole vault champion indoors and outdoors
- Diamond League and European pole vault champion
- Improved his world record to 6.19m and 6.20m indoors, and then 6.21m outdoors
Soufiane El Bakkali, Morocco
- World 3000m steeplechase champion
- Diamond League 3000m steeplechase champion
- Unbeaten in 2022, running a world-leading 7:58.28 in Rabat
Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Norway
- World 5000m champion, world 1500m silver medallist indoors and outdoors
- European 1500m and 5000m champion
- Ran a world indoor 1500m record of 3:30.60 and won the Diamond League title in a world-leading 3:29.02
Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya
- Improved his world marathon record to 2:01:09
- Berlin Marathon champion
- Tokyo Marathon champion
Noah Lyles, USA
- World 200m champion
- Diamond League 200m champion
- Ran a world-leading national record of 19.31 to move to third on the world all-time list
Voting procedure for 2022 World Athletes of the Year
A three-way voting process determined the finalists.
The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans logged their decisions online via the World Athletics social media platforms where a record 1.3 million votes were registered.
The World Athletics Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result.Voting closed on 31 October.
The World Athletes of the Year will be announced on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December, as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022.
