© Copyright – 2020- Athletics Illustrated
The 10 nominees for the World Athletics’ Female Athlete of the Year is made up by a group of athletes who performed stunning feats on the tracks and roads of the world during the pandemic.
The finalists two Ethiopians, three Kenyans, two from Holland, and one each from Great Britain, Venezuela and Jamaica.
The top-10:
Femke Bol (Netherlands, 400m Hurdles)
Letesenbet Gidey (Ethiopia, 5000m)
Sifan Hassan (Netherlands, 5000m/10,000m)
Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya, Half Marathon)
Faith Kipyegon (Kenya, 800m/1500m)
Laura Muir (Great Britain, 1500m)
Hellen Obiri (Kenya, 3000m/5000m)
Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela, Triple Jump)
Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica, 100m/200m)
Ababel Yeshaneh (Ethiopia, Half Marathon)
The list will be halved in votes cast among the World Athletics Council (50 percent), World Athletics family (25 percent) and by fans (25 percent). The 25 percent by fans could be swayed greatly by nations whose population is embracing social media. You can vote by liking individual athlete’s images on the World Athletics’ Facebook and Instagram or by retweets.
The finalists will be named after voting closes on Nov. 15. The athletes of the year will be announced at the World Athletics awards on Dec. 5.
World records were broken this year by Rojas (indoor triple jump), Gidey (5000m), Hassan (one-our run), Jepchirchir (half-marathon, women-only race), and Yeshaneh (half marathon).
Gidey was the only onee to break a world record in an Olympic event. The 22-year-old may become the youngest woman to win without having competed in the Olympics (that wasn’t banned from the sport).
Jepchirchir, 27, made a convincing late bid to challenge Gidey by winning the world half marathon championships on Oct. 17, where she lowered the women’s only world record for the second time in two months. Surprisingly, a Kenyan has never won the female athlete of the year award.
