Kenya out on World Athlete of the year finalist

• Kipyegon was among the ten athletes shortlisted on October 17 but missed the top five final list.
• In December, the World Athletics will release the final list of World Athletes of the Year 2022 through their social media handles.
• Public votes tallied 25 per cent of the final result. Voting closed on October 31.

Kenya again missed the World Athlete of the Year final list after Faith Kipyegon, the two-time Olympic 1500m champion, failed to cut the list released by World athletics on Monday morning.

Kipyegon was among the ten athletes shortlisted on October 17 but missed the top five final list. Photo/ Getty Images

Kipyegon was among the ten athletes shortlisted for this year’s awards on October 17 but later missed the top five final list, with Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan topping the final lists on the countdown of the World Athletics Awards 2022.

The five will be representing their countries from up to three associations areas and have achieved sensational performances across a range of several athletics disciplines this year during the World Athletics Championship in Oregon22, The World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, the one-day meeting circuits, among other events around the globe.

Amusan has competed in multiple competitions, including the Diamond League. She is the world 100m hurdles champion and Commonwealth and African 100m hurdles champion. 

She also set a world 100m hurdles in a time record of 12.12.

Other shortlisted athletes included Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, a world 100m champion, after claiming a fifth gold medal in July in Oregon. 

Photo/ CHRISTIAN PETERSEN

She is the Diamond League 100m champion and ran a world record of 10.62 among her seven sub-10.70 100 meters races during the season.

Kimberly Garcia of Peru, a world 20km race walk champion after winning Peru’s first-ever World Athletics Championship medal, also made it to the final five. 

She is also a world 35km race walk champion in the South American record. She is the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships 20km, bronze medallist.

USA’S Sydney McLaughlin was also cut for what was regarded as an impressive season on track; she won the world 4x400m and 400m hurdle titles

She broke the 400m hurdles world record with 51.41 at the US Championships and boosted her record to 50.68 to claim a world title.

Venezuela’s Triple jumper Yulimar Rojas, a world outdoor indoor and outdoor champion, closed the final list. Rojas is the Diamond League champion and improved the world record to 15.74m in Belgrade.

The process was done through the voting process to determine the finalists with The World Athletics Family World Athletics Council and the voting through email. Athletics fans voted through the WA social media platforms, registering up to 1.3 million votes.

World Athletics Council’s votes counted for up to 50 per cent of the overall results, while the World Athletics Family’s public votes counted for 25 per cent of the final result. Voting closed on October 31.

The final list for World Athletes of the Year 2022 will be released by World Athletics through their social media handles in December as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022.