Four Africans nominated for 2022 World Athlete of the Year Awards
The list of candidates for Women’s and Men’s World Athlete of the Year was released by World Athletics on Thursday, October 13, with four athletes from Africa on list.
In each division, 10 athletes were chosen. Four African athletes are among the 20 nominees this year. The women’s category includes Kenyan Faith Kipyegon and Nigerian Tobi Amusan. On the men’s side are Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali.
An international panel of athletics specialists, which includes members from each of World Athletics’ six continental regions, chooses the athletes. The finalists will be chosen by a three-way vote.
Voting will take place via email between the World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family. Their votes will make up 50% and 25% of the ultimate outcome, respectively.
Through World Athletics’ social media platforms, users can also vote online. Each nominee’s unique graphics has been published on social media. One vote is equal to one “like” on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube, or one “retweet” on Twitter.
On Monday, October 31, voting for the World Athletes of the Year ends at midnight. Five men and five women will be named as finalists after the voting is over, according to World Athletics.
In the first week of December, World Athletics will announce the winners on its social media channels.
The 2021 World Athletics Awards for men and women were won by Karsten Warholm of Norway and Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica.
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Africans who have won the World Athlete Awards
The first winner from the continent was a male athlete, Algerian Noureddine Morceli in 1994. While Ethiopian Meseret Defar became the first female athlete from Africa to excel on that stage in 2007.
African athletes have taken home the awards for 13 times in total. The country with the most representation on the continent is Ethiopia, which is followed by Kenya, Morocco, and Algeria.
M = Male, F = Female
| YEAR | ATHLETE | COUNTRY |
| 1994 | Noureddine Morceli – M | Algeria |
| 1998 | Haile Gebrselassie – M | Ethiopia |
| 2001 | Hicham El Guerrouj – M | Morocco |
| 2002 | Hicham El Guerrouj – M | Morocco |
| 2003 | Hicham El Guerrouj – M | Morocco |
| 2004 | Kenenisa Bekele – M | Ethiopia |
| 2005 | Kenenisa Bekele – M | Ethiopia |
| 2007 | Meseret Defar – F | Ethiopia |
| 2010 | David Rudisha – M | Ethiopia |
| 2015 | Genzebe Dibaba – F | Ethiopia |
| 2016 | Almaz Ayana – F | Ethiopia |
| 2018 | Eliud Kipchoge – M | Kenya |
| 2019 | Eliud Kipchoge – M | Kenya |
2022 nominees
Kenya — Eliud Kipchoge — M
Eliud Kipchoge, a two-time Olympic champion, broke his own world record on September 25 in the Berlin Marathon. His time was 2:01:09. Both the Berlin and Tokyo marathons were won by the 37-year-old.
He received the Men’s World Athlete of the Year title in 2018 and 2019.
Nigeria — Tobi Amusan — F
The 25-year-old is the world’s best at the 100-meter hurdles. She is also the African, Commonwealth, and Diamond League champion in the 100-meter hurdles.
In her semifinal race at the World Championship in Oregon on July 24, she set a new world record for the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.12.
Kenya — Faith Kipyegon — F
With a Kenyan record that is currently the best in the world, she won the World 1500m Champion and Diamond League 1500m.
Morocco — Soufiane El Bakkali — M
The 26-year-old is both the world’s and the Diamond League’s 3000 m steeplechase champion. He ran a world-leading 7:58.28 in Rabat on June 5, 2022.
READ ALSO: Commonwealth 2022: Full list of African teams’ medals
Source: News Agencies
Abeeb Lekan Sodiq is a Managing Editor & Writer at theafricandream.net. He is as well a Graphics Designer and also known as Arakunrin Lekan.
