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Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan are in the final list of athletes for the World Athletics Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards.

Eliud Kipchoge

Kipchoge defended his 2016 Rio Olympic Marathon gold medal with a stunning performance on the streets of Sapporo during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Should he win, this will be his third such award.

He continues to be the marathon world record holder with his 2018 Berlin Marathon win that he accomplished in the time of 2:01:39.

The 37-year-old is in tough against Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda who picked up a gold medal in the 5000m in Tokyo and owns the 5000m and 10,000m world records. the 25-year-old also has the 5K and 15K world best performnces. Kipchoge is also up against Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, who also earned gold at Tokyo Olympics. There are also American Ryan Crouser the Diamond League champion in shot put and Karsten Warholm of Norway, the 400m hurdles champion from Tokyo.

Kipchoge won the annual award in 2018 and 2019 and Duplantis won in 2020.

Sifan Hassan

Perhaps channelling the ghost of the great Czech, Emil Zatopek, Hassan went after three distance Olympic golds. She acheived her first Olympic title in the 5000m, having raced a 1500m heat earlier that same day. She went on to race two more rounds of the 1500m, eventually winning the bronze medal. The next day she was back on track for the 10,000m and she won in the time of 29:55.32 in her sixth race of the Games. During the first heat of the 1500m, she fell, got up and had to race harder than planned to get back in the field.

Her 10,000m world record was set in June at the Hengelo meet at 29:06.82 was a jaw-dropping performance. She also broke the one-mile record in July in Monaco in the time of 4:12.33. The 28-year-old’s Tokyo Olympic performances were enough to put her in the running for the award.

Not to be outdone is Kenyan Faith Kipyegon.

Olympic and Diamond league 1,500m champion, Kipyegon is likely to make the final list of five athletes to be announced on Tuesday.

Kipyegon is the world 1500m champion. She retained her 1500m title at the Tokyo Olympic Games and also won the Diamond League 1500m Trophy. She set the national 1500m record as well, clocking a 3:51.07 performance in July at the Monaco Diamond League meet. The world record is held by Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba at 3:50.07 from the 2015 Herculis Diamond League meet.

Kipyegon is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, one-time World Championships winner and a 15-time Diamond League winner in distances 800m, 1000m, 1500m and the mile. She hold the national record in the 1000m distance at 2:29:15.

From the top-10 list (to be narrowed Tuesday to five) are Valarie Allman (USA) discus, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) 100m hurdles, Sifan Hassan (NED) 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m, Mariya Lasitskene (ANA) high jump, Sydney McLaughlin (USA) 400m hurdles, Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH) 200m and 400m, Athing Mu (USA) 400m and 800m, Yulimar Rojas (VEN) triple jump, and Elaine Thompson-Herah (JAM) 100m and 200m.

The voting

A three-way voting process that closed on Nov. 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 counts for 50 per cent of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25 per cent of the final result.

The announcement will take place Dec. 1 over Youtube.