World record breakers Letesenbet Gidey, Joshua Cheptegei in running for Athlete of the Year

Paris: Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey, who smashed the women’s 5,000m world record in October, was among the nominees for the female World Athlete of the Year announced on Tuesday. Gidey, 22, sliced more than four seconds off the previous mark with a time of 14 min 06.62sec in a specially arranged race in the Spanish city of Valencia which featured flashing lights on the track perimeter to guide the athletes’ pace. Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, who broke the men’s 10,000m world record at the same meeting with a time of 26:11.00, was among the nominees for the men’s award announced by World Athletics on Monday. In a season shortened by the coronavirus pandemic and deprived of the postponed Tokyo Olympics, Cheptegei also set a stunning world record at 5,000m. Armand Duplantis was also among the leading nominees for the men’s award after rewriting the pole vault record books. Aged just 20, the Swede bettered Ukrainian great Sergey Bubka’s mark by setting a new outdoor record of 6.15m at the Rome Diamond League meeting after posting an indoor mark of 6.18m earlier in the season. Another Ugandan, Jacob Kiplimo, who recorded a world half marathon win in a record time of 58 min 49 sec, is also among the men’s contenders. The women’s nominees also include Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, who ran the year’s fastest time for 800m time. The winners will be announced at the World Athletics Awards 2020 on 5 December. Female nominees for World Athlete of the Year Femke Bol (Netherlands), Letesenbet Gidey (Ethiopia), Sifan Hassan (Netherlands), Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya), Faith Kipyegon (Kenya), Laura Muir (Great Britain), Hellen Obiri (Kenya), Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela), Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica), Ababel Yeshaneh (Ethiopia) Male nominees for World Athlete of the Year Donavan Brazier (USA), Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda), Timothy Cheruiyot (Kenya), Ryan Crouser (USA), Armand Duplantis (Sweden), Jacob Kiplimo (Uganda), Noah Lyles (USA), Daniel Stahl (Sweden), Johannes Vetter (Germany), Karsten Warholm (Norway)