Kelvin Kiptum to battle Jakob Ingebrigtsen for 2023 Men’s World Athlete of the Year award
World marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum has been nominated for the 2023 Male Athlete of the Year Award.
In an announcement by World Athletics on Thursday, October 12, the 23-year-old who shattered Eliud Kipchoge’s former World record by thirty-five seconds has been nominated for the coveted award and will fight for the honours with eleven other athletes.
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World Athletics released a list of 11 nominees for men’s World Athlete of the Year, who were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.
Since his debut in athletics last year, he has set straight three records from when he first won in Valencia, Spain in December 2022 and the London marathon in April this year.
There are only two men from Kenya who have emerged World Athlete of the Year; David Rudisha in 2010 and Kipchoge in 2018 and 2019.
Kipchoge was nominated for 2022 after winning Tokyo and Berlin Marathon and 2021 for bagging his second Olympic Marathon title, so this will be the first time he has missed out on the list in three years.
In what has been another memorable year for the sport, the nominations reflect some of the standout performances achieved at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23, one-day meeting circuits, Label road races and other events around the world.
Voting for the World Athletes of the Year closes at midnight on October 28. 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.
At the conclusion of the voting process where fans also vote on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube, five women and five men finalists will be announced by World Athletics on November 13-14.
The winners will be revealed on World Athletics’ social media platforms on December 11.
The nominees for 2023 Men’s World Athlete of the Year are (in alphabetical order):
Neeraj Chopra, IND, javelin
- World champion
- Asian Games champion
Ryan Crouser, USA, shot put
- World champion
- World record
Mondo Duplantis, SWE, pole vault
- World champion
- Diamond League champion with world record
Soufiane El Bakkali, MAR, 3000m steeplechase
- World champion
- Undefeated in six finals
Jakob Ingebrigtsen, NOR, 1500m/mile/5000m
- World 5000m champion and 1500m silver medallist
- European records for 1500m, mile and 3000m
Kelvin Kiptum, KEN, marathon
- London and Chicago Marathon winner
- Marathon world record breaker
Pierce LePage, CAN, decathlon
- World champion
- World leader
Noah Lyles, USA, 100m/200m
- World 100m and 200m champion
- World leader and undefeated in six finals at 200m
Alvaro Martin, ESP, race walk
- World 20km and 35km race walk champion
- World leader 20km race walk
Miltiadis Tentoglou, long jump
- World champion
- European Indoor champion
Karsten Warholm, NOR, 400m hurdles/400m
- World 400m hurdles champion
- European indoor 400m champio