Faith Kipyegon nominated for international gong
Kenyan athlete Faith Kipyego has made it to a shortlist of 1o nominees for the Women’s World Athlete of the Year gong.
Kipyegon, who easily retained the 1500 metres title at the World Championship in Oregon, is, thus, in line to be the first Kenyan female athlete to bag the award.
Faith is also the Diamond League 1500m champion and ran a world-leading Kenyan record of 3:50.37, which is about three-tenths of a second off the world record.
Voting for the winner of this award closes at midnight on October 31, 2022.
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.
The athletes were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.
The Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who ran a world-leading 10.62 among her record seven sub-10.70 100m races of the season has also been nominated for the award.
Fraser-Pryce is better known for her speed and style in 100 m, and 200m, and is arguably regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time.
Other nominees include world 400m hurdles and 4x400m champion Sydney McLaughlin (US), Chase Early (US), Tobi Amusan (Nigeria), world indoor and outdoor triple jump champion Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela), world 200m champion Shericka Jackson (Jamaica), world indoor high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine), world 20km race walk champion Kimberly Garcia (Peru), and world 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo (Bahamas).
The World Athlete of the Year award is a prize that can be won by athletes participating in events within the sport of athletics which is organised by World Athletics.
Last year, Jamaican sprinter Elaine Sandra-Lee Thompson-Herah who competes in the 60m, 100m and 200m won the award.
Since 1988, three male Kenyans have won the World Athletics award.
Three voting processes have been set out to 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 percent of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25 percent of the final result.
Also read: WATCH: Raila offers 20k for bodaboda riders in Nairobi