The three-way voting process closes on October 16

World champions Hellen Obiri and Elijah Manangoi are among 20 athletes named for this year's IAAF Athlete of Year set for Monte Carlo, Monaco in France, on November 24.

Except for Birmingham, Obiri won all races at 3000m and 5000m this summer and holds world-leading marks in both events, clocking 8:23.14 to win the 3000m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco and a national record of 14:18.37 to win the 5000m at the Diamond League meeting in Rome, making her the fifth-fastest woman in history.

It’s not just a matter of fast times, though; it’s the way she has won races – with fast final kilometres that no one can match – that made her an outright winner at the London worlds. Obiri won the IAAF Diamond League Trophy in Zurich.

This week marks the opening of the voting process for the World Athletes of the Year ahead of the IAAF Athletics Awards.

The IAAF named a list of 10 men and 10 women nominees who were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of the IAAF.

The IAAF Council and the IAAF Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the IAAF's social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook and Twitter later this week; a 'like' or 'favourite' will count as one vote.

The IAAF Council’s vote will count for 50 per cent of the result, while the IAAF Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25 per cent of the final result.

At the conclusion of the voting process on October 16, three men and three women finalists will be announced.

The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live on stage at the IAAF Athletics Gala.

Manangoi settled for second spot at the Bislett Games, the fifth stop of the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Oslo, Norway.

He bowed to Britain’s Jake Wightman, who took more than a second off his personal best of 3:35.49 as he finished strongly in 3:34.17. He has a personal best of 3:29.67, finishing second in 3:34.30 and the hugely experienced Polish athlete Marcin Lewandowski third in a personal best of 3:34.60. He lost the IAAF Diamond League Trophy to Timothy Cheruiyot.

Joyceline Jepkosgei is missing from the nominees –perhaps her world records have not been ratified.

She marked the fifth world record of the year when she broke four –10km, 15km, 20km and the half marathon –en route to her victory at the Prague Half Marathon last April.

She became first woman to run under 30 minutes smashing world record at Prague Grand Prix 10 kilometer, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

The 23-year-old, clocked 29:43 to break through the 30-minute barrier and shattering her own record of 30:04, also set in the Czech capital.