This week marks the opening of the voting process for the 2020 World Athletes of the Year ahead of theĀ World Athletics Awards 2020Ā to be held virtually on Saturday 5 December.
World Athletics is pleased to confirm a list of 10 nominees forĀ Female World Athlete of the YearĀ who were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.
The nominations reflect the remarkable range of exceptional performances that the sport has witnessed this year, despite the challenges that the global Covid-19 pandemic presented.
The nominees for 2020 Female World Athlete of the Year are (in alphabetical order):
Femke Bol, Netherlands
– undefeated in six 400m hurdles races
– ran a world-leading 53.79 in the 400m hurdles
Letesenbet Gidey, Ethiopia
– set a world record of 14:06.62 over 5000m
– was second in the Monaco Diamond League over 5000m
Sifan Hassan, Netherlands
– set a world record of 18,930m in the one hour run
– set a European record of 29:36.67 over 10,000m, the fourth fastest performance in history
Peres Jepchirchir, Kenya
– won the world half marathon title
– twice broke the world half marathon record for a women-only race (1:05:34 and 1:05:16)
Ā Faith Kipyegon, Kenya
– undefeated in five races over all distances
– ran world-leading performances over 800m (1:57.68) and 1000m (2:29.15)
Laura Muir, Great Britain and Northern Ireland
– undefeated in three 1500m races
– ran a world-leading 3:57.40 over 1500m
Hellen Obiri, Kenya
– undefeated in three races over 3000m and 5000m
– ran a world-leading 8:22.54 over 3000m
Yulimar Rojas, Venezuela
– undefeated in four triple jump competitions indoors and outdoors
– broke the world indoor triple jump record with 15.43m
Elaine Thompson-Herah, Jamaica
– undefeated in seven 100m races
– ran world-leading 10.85 over 100mĀ
Ababel Yeshaneh, Ethiopia
– broke the world record in the half marathon with 1:04:31
– finished fifth at the World Athletics Half Marathon ChampionshipsĀ
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 and Instagram this week; a ‘like’ on Facebook and Instagram or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.
The World Athletics Councilās vote will count for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Familyās votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.
Voting for the Female World Athlete of the Year closes at midnight on Sunday 15 November. At the conclusion of the voting process, five men and five women finalists will be announced by World Athletics.
The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2020 on Saturday 5 December. – World Athletics
