World Athletics has reduced its 20 nominees for World Athlete of the Year to six finalists. Sabastian Sawe, Mondo Duplantis and Alison dos Santos were confirmed as the three men in contention on 10 November, and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Masai Russell and Audrey Werro were named as the women’s finalists a day later. All six have been invited to the World Athletics Awards in Monaco on 29 November, where the winners will be announced on stage.
Sawe’s case rests on the run that has defined the year. The 31-year-old Kenyan defended his London Marathon title on 26 April in 1:59:30, becoming the first man to break two hours in a record-eligible marathon and taking 65 seconds off Kelvin Kiptum’s 2:00:35. Duplantis, who has won the award four times already and trails only Usain Bolt’s six, raised the pole vault world record to 6.31m in Uppsala, the 15th world record of his career, and added world indoor, Ultimate Championship and European titles. Dos Santos reshaped the 400m hurdles with a world record of 45.80 in Zurich in August and won the Ultimate title in 45.98.
The women’s shortlist is dominated by the track. Jefferson-Wooden completed a sprint double at the Ultimate Championship and set world leads of 10.62 for 100m and 21.47 for 200m, the latter moving her to third on the world all-time list. Russell went unbeaten in the 100m hurdles, lowering the world record to 12.09, recording nine of the season’s ten fastest times and collecting both the Ultimate and Diamond League titles. Switzerland’s Werro won Ultimate, Diamond League and European 800m titles and broke the Diamond League record three times on the way to a world-leading 1:53.70, third on the all-time list.
The cut leaves notable absentees. Tigst Assefa, Marileidy Paulino and Agnes Ngetich finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the women’s voting, meaning no road runner made the women’s final three despite Ngetich’s exceptional year. On the men’s side, Josh Kerr was the highest-placed of those who missed out, in fourth, ahead of Ja’Kobe Tharp, Kenny Bednarek and Collen Kebinatshipi. The finalists were chosen through a four-way vote, with fans, athletes, media and the World Athletics Family each contributing a quarter of the result.
The Monaco ceremony will also present the Rising Star awards, Coach of the Year, the President’s Award and, for the first time, a Moment of the Year. For distance running, Sawe’s presence keeps the marathon in the overall conversation in a year when the event finally went under two hours. Whether that is enough to overcome Duplantis’s record of consistency, or a world record in an event as competitive as the 400m hurdles, is the question the voters have already answered and Monaco will reveal at the end of the month.