Kenyans out as Bolt heads IAAF Athlete of the Year shortlist

Kenyan Rio 2016 Olympics stars have missed out on the final shortlist of the 2016 IAAF World Athlete of the Year awards that will be held in Monaco.

World body IAAF released the final short-list of three male and female athletes who will vie for the prestigious accolade led by five-time winner and triple Olympics Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt.

He will compete for the Male Athlete of the Year gong where he is running for his sixth accolade with Britain’s Mo Farah who retained his Olympics 5000m and 10000m distance double and South African Wayde van Niekerk who shattered the men 400m in Rio.

Ethiopia’s women 10000m Olympic champion Almaz Ayana who also broke the world record en route to her crushing victory is the only African in the list and is in the running for the Female Athlete of the Year.

Fellow Rio gold winners Jamaican Elaine Thompson of Jamaica and Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland who won the 100 and 200m sprint double and the Hammer in Brazil.

Former winner David Rudisha, Vivian Cheruiyot, Eliud Kipchoge and Conseslus Kipruto were the Kenyans in the long-list for the award.

David Rudisha after winning the men 800m gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics. PHOTO/AFP
David Rudisha after winning the men 800m gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics. PHOTO/AFP

Rudisha interrupted the run of Bolt in 2010 when he broke the men 800m world record twice in Berlin (1:41.11) and Rieti (1:41.09) while Cheruiyot came close in 2011 when she was narrowly beaten by Australian hurdler Sally Pearson after clinching the 5000m and 10000m distance double at the 2011 IAAF Worlds in Daegu, South Korea.

The finalists were determined by a three-way voting process. The IAAF Council’s vote counted for 50 percent of the result, the IAAF Family’s vote counted for 25 percent and a public vote, conducted via social media, also counted for 25 percent.

The World Athletes of the Year will be announced live on stage at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2016.

-Material sourced from IAAF

The finalists are (in alphabetical order):

Men

Usain Bolt (JAM)

Mo Farah (GBR)

Wayde van Niekerk (RSA)

 

Women

Almaz Ayana (ETH)

Elaine Thompson (JAM)

Anita Wlodarczyk (POL)

Tags:

Mo Farah Monaco Wayde van Niekerk David Rudisha Usain Bolt Jamaica Vivian Cheruiyot IAAF World Athlete of the Year Almaz Ayana Elaine Thompson Anita Wlodarczyk

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