Double Olympic Marathon champion, Eliud Kipchoge, has made it to the final list of five athletes battling for the 2021 World Athletics Male of the Year Award.
The 37-year-old world marathon record holder retained his Olympic marathon crown during the Tokyo Summer Games in Japan in August this year.
Kipchoge, who has won the award twice, clocked 2:08:38 for the largest winning margin in men’s Olympic marathon since 1972.
The winner will be announced at the World Athletics Awards 2021 to be held virtually on December 1.
The ceremony will be streamed live on the World Athletics YouTube channel.
The five athletes, who represent five countries from three area associations, have produced some exceptional performances across a range of athletics disciplines in 2021, at the Tokyo Olympic Games, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world.
Others in contention for the award that Kipchoge won in 2018 and 2019 are the 2020 winner, Swede Mondo Duplantis, who also won the pole vault title at Tokyo Olympics and Olympic 5,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda.
Also vying for the coveted award are Olympic and Diamond League shot put champion, Ryan Crouseer from United States and – Olympic 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm of Norway.
According to a statement from World Athletics, a three-way voting process that closed on November 6 determined the finalists.
The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans voted online via the World Athletics social media platforms.
The World Athletics Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result.
Kenya’s Olympic and Diamond league 1,500m champion, Faith Chepngétich was the only Kenyan, just like Kipchoge, to be nominated for the 2021 Female World Athlete of the Year.
She is tipped to make the final list of five athletes to be disclosed Tuesday.
Kipchoge and David Rudisha (2010) are the only Kenyan male athletes to have won the award while no Kenyan woman has ever bagged the accolade.
The male finalists are (in alphabetical order):
Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda)
– Olympic 5000m champion
– Olympic 10,000m silver medallist
– World-leading 8:09.55 for two miles
Ryan Crouser (USA)
– Olympic and Diamond League shot put champion
– Undefeated all year
– World shot put records indoors and outdoors
Mondo Duplantis (Sweden)
– Olympic pole vault champion
– Diamond League pole vault champion
– European indoor pole vault champion
Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya)
– Olympic marathon champion
– Largest winning margin in men’s Olympic marathon since 1972
– Winner of Enschede Marathon
Karsten Warholm (Norway)
– Olympic 400m hurdles champion
– Diamond League 400m hurdles champion
– World 400m hurdles record and world 300m hurdles best
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