Two Africans among nominees for Men’s World Athlete of the Year 2022 Awards

World Athletics Thursday announced a list of 10 nominees for the Men’s World Athlete of the Year Awards 2022 with the voting process commencing this week.

Among the list are two Africans – Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya and Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali.

Kipchoge, the reigning double Olympic champion, recently shuttered his own world record, at the Berlin Marathon, last month when he stopped the clock at 2:01:09.

A Tokyo Olympic gold medallist, Kipchoge will face opposition from Kristjan Ceh, Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen and World pole vault indoors and outdoors champion, Mondo Duplantis as well as fellow African, Bakkali, still unbeaten this year in the 3000m steeplechase.

Bakkali also has the World 3000m SC gold as well as the Diamond League 3000m steeplechase titles to his title this year.

He ran a world-lead time of 7:58.28 in Rabat, this year, to add to Diamond League (110m hurdles) champion; World (110m hurdles) and indoor 60m hurdles titles.

These athletes were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.

It has been another memorable year for the sport and the nominations reflect some of the standout performances achieved at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world.

The nominees for 2022 Men’s World Athlete of the Year are (in alphabetical order):

Kristjan Ceh, SLO
– World discus champion
– Diamond League discus champion, throwing a national record 71.27m on the circuit in Birmingham
– European discus silver medallist
Alison dos Santos, BRA
– World 400m hurdles champion
– Diamond League 400m hurdles champion
– Ran a world-leading South American record of 46.29
Mondo Duplantis, SWE
– 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, MAR
– World 3000m steeplechase champion
– Diamond League 3000m steeplechase champion
– Unbeaten in 2022, running a world-leading 7:58.28 in Rabat
Grant Holloway, USA
– World 110m hurdles champion
– World indoor 60m hurdles champion
– Diamond League 110m hurdles champion
Jakob Ingebrigtsen, NOR
– World 5000m champion, world 1500m silver medallist indoors and outdoors
– European 1500m and 5000m champion
– Diamond League 1500m champion in a world-leading 3:29.02
Eliud Kipchoge, KEN
– 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
Anderson Peters, GRN
– World javelin champion
– Commonwealth javelin silver medallist
– Threw a world-leading NACAC record of 93.07m, moving to fifth on the world all-time list
Pedro Pichardo, POR
– World triple jump champion with a world-leading leap of 17.95m
– World indoor triple jump silver medallist
– European triple jump champion
A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.

The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the World Athletics social media platforms.

Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube this week; a ‘like’ on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.

The World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.

Voting for the World Athletes of the Year closes at midnight on Monday 31 October. At the conclusion of the voting process, five women and five men finalists will be announced by World Athletics.

The winners will be revealed on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December.

Further information about the World Athletics Awards 2022 will be announced in the coming weeks.

World Athletics