From Inside the Games
Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei, who broke Paula Radcliffe’s 16-year-old marathon world record in Chicago last month, has been named as one of five finalists for the Female World Athlete of the Year 2019 award.
The quintet remain in the frame for the prestigious prize after an initial shortlist of 11 athletes was whittled down.
Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Dutch runner Sifan Hassan, American hurdler Dalilah Muhammad and Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas have also been confirmed as finalists.
Kosgei ran 2 hours 14min 4sec to win the Chicago Marathon and break Radcliffe’s record by 81 seconds, and also won the London Marathon this year.
She ran a world-leading 1:05:28 for the half marathon, as well as a time of 1:04:28 on a downhill course.
Fraser-Pryce won gold in the 100 metres and 4x100m relay at last month’s International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships in Doha.
Her year has also included Pan American Games gold over 200m in Lima.
Hassan claimed a unique double at the World Championships by winning the 1,500m and 10,000m in world-leading times of 3:51.95 and 30:17.62, respectively.
Her victories came either side of her learning that her coach, Alberto Salazar, had been banned for four years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency for a series of irregularities.
Ethiopian-born Hassan has also won Diamond League titles over 1,500m and 5,000m this year and broke the world mile record by clocking 4:12.33 in Monaco.
Muhammad excelled in the 400m hurdles at the World Championships, winning gold in a time of 52.16 which broke the world record she set herself earlier in the year.
