Americans make up half of the nominees for World Athletics Female and Male Track Athlete of the Year awards.
The women’s nominees include Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who won 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles at last month’s World Championships, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who won 400m and 4x400m golds at worlds, including running the second-fastest 400m in history.
The other nominees are fellow world champions Femke Bol of the Netherlands (400m hurdles) and Kenyans Beatrice Chebet (5000m, 10,000m) and Faith Kipyegon (1500m).
The Americans nominated for Men’s Track Athlete of the Year are world champions Rai Benjamin (400m hurdles), Noah Lyles (200m, 4x100m) and Cordell Tinch (110m hurdles). They’re joined by world champions Jimmy Gressier of France (10,000m) and Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya (800m).
Two finalists for each award are determined by a three-way voting process from now to Sunday: World Athletics Council vote (50%), World Athletics family vote (25%) and public vote through World Athletics’ channels on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram (25%).
Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted; a “like” on Facebook and Instagram or a repost on X counts as one vote.
The process will be the same for Field Athletes of the Year (next week) and Out-Of-Stadium Athletes of the Year (in two weeks).
Once the awards are down to finalists, a fan vote open for all registered users of World Athletics+ helps determine the overall World Athletes of the Year.
In 2024, the Track Athletes of the Year were Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana and McLaughlin-Levrone, after she broke her own world record to repeat as Olympic 400m hurdles gold medalist.
Lyles won Male Track Athlete of the Year in 2023 after winning 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold at those World Championships.
