ATHLETICS: Nominees for track and field athletes of the year now posted; voting ends on 27 October!

U.S.’s Rai Benjamin wins the men’s 400 m hurdles over Tokyo champ Karsten Warholm (Photo: Dan Vernon for World Athletics)

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World Athletics has posted its nominees for its track and field athletes of the year, with voting on now and continuing through 27 October. It’s a quick turnaround:

“The vote to determine the Track Athlete of the Year finalists is now open on World Athletics social media platforms – on Facebook, Instagram and X. It will close on 27 October.”

The track athlete nominees include:

Men:
● Rai Benjamin (USA) ~ Olympic 400 m hurdles champion
● Grant Holloway (USA) ~ Olympic 110 m hurdles champion
● Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) ~ Olympic 5,000 m champion
● Noah Lyles (USA) ~ Olympic 100 m champion, 200 m bronze
● Letsile Tebogo (BOT) ~ Olympic 200 m champion
● Emmanuel Wanyonyi (KEN) ~ Olympic 800 m champion

Women:
● Julien Alfred (LCA) ~ Olympic 100 m champion
● Beatrice Chebet (KEN) ~ Olympic 5,000/10,000 m champion
● Faith Kipyegon (KEN) ~ Olympic 1,500 m champion
● Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) ~ Olympic 400 m hurdles champion
● Mariledy Paulino (DOM) ~ Olympic 400 m champion
● Gabby Thomas (USA) ~ Olympic 200 m champion

Chebet set the world 10,000 m record during the season, Kipyegon set the 1,500 m mark and McLaughlin-Levrone shattered her own world record in Paris. Among the men, Ingebrigtsen got an impressive world 3,000 m record.

The World Athletics field nominees were posted on 14 August and the voting is already over:

Men:
● Ryan Crouser (USA) ~ Olympic shot champion
● Jordan Diaz (ESP) ~ Olympic triple jump champion
● Mondo Duplantis (SWE) ~ Olympic vault champion
● Ethan Karzberg (CAN) ~ Olympic hammer champion
● Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) ~ Olympic long jump champion

Women:
● Valarie Allman (USA) ~ Olympic discus champion
● Tara Davis-Woodhall (USA) ~ Olympic long jump champion
● Nina Kennedy (AUS) ~ Olympic vault champion
● Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) ~ Olympic high jump champion
● Nafi Thiam (BEL) ~ Olympic heptathlon champion

Duplantis and Mahuchikh both set memorable world records in 2024, and Crouser, Tentoglou and Davis-Woodhall also won the World Indoor titles earlier in the year.

The road athletes of the year nominees will be announced on 28 October, with another quick vote to follow. Finalists will be announced on 4 November, with another round of voting to be available.

Fan voting accounts for only a quarter of the total vote. Per World Athletics:

“The World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and social media votes will each count for 25% of the result.”

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