World Athletics has announced the nominees for its 2026 World Athlete of the Year awards, with 10 men and 10 women on the list. Voting closes at midnight CEST on Saturday 17 October, three finalists per category will be announced on 10 and 11 November, and the winners will be revealed live at a ceremony in Monaco on 29 November.
The women's nominees are Tigst Assefa (Ethiopia), Chase Jackson (USA), Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (USA), Agnes Ngetich (Kenya), Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic), Maria Perez (Spain), Camryn Rogers (Canada), Masai Russell (USA), Audrey Werro (Switzerland) and Yan Ziyi (China). Distance running is represented by Assefa and Ngetich, whose women-only half marathon world record at the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen is among the standout performances of the season.
The men's nominees are Kenneth Bednarek (USA), Kristjan Ceh (Slovenia), Andy Diaz Hernandez (Italy), Alison dos Santos (Brazil), Mondo Duplantis (Sweden), Collen Kebinatshipi (Botswana), Josh Kerr (Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (Sri Lanka), Sabastian Sawe (Kenya) and Ja'Kobe Tharp (USA). Kerr and Sawe are the nominees from the middle and long distances.
The 20 names were selected by an eight-member panel of statisticians, made up of two representatives from World Athletics and one from each of the six area associations. The final ranking from first to tenth in each category is then decided by a four-way vote in which each group carries 25 per cent of the total.
The four voting groups are World Athletics fans, who vote in an online survey; athletes who competed at World Athletics Series events in 2026; accredited media, including broadcasters, print journalists and content creators from those events; and the wider World Athletics Family, which includes Council and commission members, athlete representatives, meeting organisers, member federation presidents, partners and staff.