The 20 nominees for the World Athlete of the Year honours have been announced ahead of the World Athletics Awards taking place in Monaco on 29 November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nominees \u2013 selected by an international panel of athletics experts \u2013 include 10 for Women\u2019s World Athlete of the Year and 10 for Men\u2019s World Athlete of the Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In what has been another sensational year for the sport, the nominations reflect some of the standout performances achieved at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship and World Athletics Series events held throughout the year, as well as during various one-day meeting circuits, Label road races and other events around the world.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nominees for 2026 Women\u2019s World Athlete of the Year (in alphabetical order):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tigst Assefa, Ethiopia<\/strong> Chase Jackson, USA<\/strong> Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, USA<\/strong> Agnes Ngetich, Kenya<\/strong> Marileidy Paulino, Dominican Republic<\/strong> Mar\u00eda P\u00e9rez, Spain<\/strong> Camryn Rogers, Canada<\/strong> Masai Russell, USA<\/strong> Audrey Werro, Switzerland<\/strong> Yan Ziyi, China<\/strong> Nominees for 2026 Men\u2019s World Athlete of the Year (in alphabetical order):<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kenneth Bednarek, USA<\/strong> Kristjan \u010ceh, Slovenia<\/strong> Andy D\u00edaz Hern\u00e1ndez, Italy<\/strong> Alison dos Santos, Brazil<\/strong> Mondo Duplantis, Sweden<\/strong> Collen Kebinatshipi, Botswana<\/strong> Josh Kerr, Great Britain & NI<\/strong> Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, Sri Lanka<\/strong> Sabastian Sawe, Kenya<\/strong> Ja\u2019Kobe Tharp, USA<\/strong> An eight-strong panel of statisticians \u2013 two members from World Athletics and one from each of the six area associations \u2013 selected the nominees. A four-way vote, which closes on Saturday 17 October at midnight CEST, will now determine their final ranking, from first to 10th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each of the four voting groups will contribute 25% of the final vote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 World Athletics fans<\/strong> voting by survey available via the World Athletics app, website and social media channels<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Athletes<\/strong> who have competed at World Athletics Series events during 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Members of the media<\/strong> including TV and radio commentators, written press journalists and content creators who have been accredited at World Athletics Series events in 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 World Athletics Family<\/strong> including Council members; commission members; athlete representatives; World Athletics Series event local organising committee chairs; Diamond League, World Indoor Tour Gold and Continental Tour Gold meeting directors; member federation presidents; official partners; and World Athletics staff<\/p>\n\n\n\n The six finalists \u2013 three for the women\u2019s World Athlete of the Year award and three for the men\u2019s \u2013 will be announced on 10 and 11 November and be invited to Monaco for the World Athletics Awards on 29 November, when each winner will be announced live on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other awards presented on stage will include the men\u2019s and women\u2019s Rising Star honours, Coach of the Year, the President\u2019s Award and, for the first time, the Moment of the Year award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 20 nominees for the World Athlete of the Year honours have been announced ahead of the World<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[50,103],"class_list":["post-16379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-athletics","tag-awards"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\u2022 Won the Berlin Marathon in 2:11:04, the third-fastest time in history
\u2022 Won the London Marathon in a women-only world record of 2:15:41<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Twice improved the North American shot put record, to 21.02m and 21.14m
\u2022 Won the world indoor title and set a Diamond League record to regain the Diamond Trophy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Won a sprint double at the Ultimate Championship
\u2022 Set world leads of 10.62 in the 100m and 21.47 in the 200m, the latter putting her third on the world all-time list<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Won the world half marathon title by 50 seconds in a women-only world record of 1:05:15 and won the world cross-country title by 42 seconds
\u2022 Ran world leads of 8:08.95 for 3000m and 28:58 for 10km<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Won the Ultimate 400m title and regained the Diamond League title
\u2022 Set a world lead and Diamond League record of 48.48 and remained unbeaten, running under 49 seconds in eight races<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Set an inaugural world half marathon race walk record of 1:30:06
\u2022 Won the European title by 58 seconds with that world record performance<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Improved her own North American hammer record with 81.13m, strengthening her place at second on the world all-time list
\u2022 Achieved the five best performances in the world and retained the Commonwealth Games title<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Set a world 100m hurdles record of 12.09 and achieved nine of the 10 fastest times of the season
\u2022 Won Ultimate and Diamond League titles as part of an unbeaten season in the 100m hurdles<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Won Ultimate, Diamond League and European 800m titles
\u2022 Broke the Diamond League record three times, improving to a world lead of 1:53.70 \u2013 putting her third on the world all-time list<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Threw 71.74m on her season opener, an Asian and world U20 record that puts her second on the world javelin all-time list
\u2022 Won Diamond League and Asian Games titles
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Achieved a sprint double at the Ultimate Championship, winning the 100m in 9.85 and 200m in a world-leading PB of 19.52
\u2022 Won the Diamond League 200m title in 19.62<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Won the Diamond League discus title with a Memorial van Damme meeting record of 71.29m
\u2022 Retained the European title with a championship record of 72.51m<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Won world indoor, Diamond League and European triple jump titles
\u2022 Jumped 18.15m to move to fourth on the world all-time list<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Set a world 400m hurdles record of 45.80 and won the Ultimate title in 45.98, the third-fastest time in history
\u2022 Went undefeated in 11 hurdles races, including the Diamond League Final<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Improved his world pole vault record to 6.31m
\u2022 Won Ultimate, world indoor and European titles<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Won the Ultimate 400m title in 43.39, putting him fifth on the world all-time list
\u2022 Won the Diamond League title and improved the Diamond League record three times, to a best of 43.40 \u2013 one of his six sub-44.00 races, a record for a single season<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Set a world mile record of 3:42.66, achieving a world lead of 3:27.62 for his 1500m split
\u2022 Won Ultimate 1500m, world indoor 3000m, and Commonwealth Games mile titles<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Won Ultimate, Diamond League, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games javelin titles
\u2022 Set a world-leading national record of 92.62m and won 13 of his 14 competitions<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Won the London Marathon in a world record of 1:59:30
\u2022 Became the first man to break two hours in a record-eligible marathon<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Set a world 110m hurdles record of 12.75 at the NCAA Championships
\u2022 Won Ultimate and Diamond League titles and broke 13 seconds in six races<\/p>\n\n\n\n