Cheruiyot banking on fans votes for IAAF award

World 1500m silver medalist Timothy Cheruiyot has called upon fans to vote for him for the IAAF Male Athlete of the Year after, he was nominated alongside nine other contestants for the prestigious award on Tuesday.

Cheruiyot could not hide his delight upon the nomination by the world athletics body for the first time in his career, following a scintillating season that saw him clinch silver in Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia before settling for the same medal in the African Championships held in Asaba, Nigeria.

The 22-year old would later put icing on the cake by successfully defending his IAAF Diamond League crown en route to setting a new Personal Best (PB) as well as Season’s Best of 3:28.41 in Monaco.

In an exclusive interview with Citizen Digital, Cheruiyot expressed pride to have made it to the top 10 athletes after his training partner and World 800m champion Elijah Manangoi made to the list 12 months ago.

“First of all it is an honour to be selected by IAAF for the 2018 award. It means a lot to me because it’s not easy to be recognised among the top 10 athletes in the entire world,” Cheruiyot told.

With the members of public contributing up to 25% of the total votes, Cheruiyot emphasised Kenyans should vote for their own passionately.

“I would like to urge all my fans to show their support by voting for me through the social media platforms of the IAAF. If the fans ability to determine who wins takes up to 25 percent then the next three weeks should be of massive activity by our fans on social media. This is a way athletes would feel much appreciated,” added Cheruiyot.

Alongside Cheruiyot in the nominees are world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge and the IAAF Diamond League champion in 800m Emmanuel Korir.

According to Cheruiyot, three Kenyans in the to-man list is statement of the countries undisputed command in athletics.

“I’m happy for my compatriots who were also selected for the award since they also did very well in their respective events. I would like to wish them well and hope that one of us will ultimately emerge the winner,” disclosed Cheruiyot who hails from Bomet County.

Other than the Kenyan trio, another African Luvo Manyonga from South Africa who is the IAAF Diamond League and Commonwealth Games champion in long jump was also shortlisted for the annual award.

Voting will be closed on  November 13 and it involves the IAAF Council which accounts for 50% of the result, while the IAAF family’s votes and public votes each counts for 25% of the results.

The Public can vote for the nominees through the IAAF’S social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where a ‘like’ in Facebook and Instagram and a retweet in Twitter will count as one vote.

The winner of the award will be announced on December 4 in Monaco, France.