Female World Athlete of the Year: Three Kenyans listed for prestigious award

Three Kenyans will be battling it out for this year's Female World Athlete of the Year award.

Newly crowned women-only world half marathon record holder Peres Jepchirchir, Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Chepng’etich and world 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri are among 10 nominees for the award. The gala is set to be held virtually on December 5.

Jepchirchir, the Lisbon Half Marathon winner, won the World Half Marathon title in Gdynia, Poland, last month. The Kapsabet-based athlete broke world half marathon record for women-only twice.

She shocked global athletics when she erased the 66:11 women-only world record by slapping a new mark of 65:34 at Prague 21km contest in September before setting a new one of 65:16 at the World Half Marathon Championships.

The 27-year-old, who won bronze at the 2016 World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff, was a late inclusion in the national team.

Chepng’etich, the world 1,500m silver medalist, went undefeated in five races over all distance.

She also posted world leading performances in 800m (1:57.68) and 1,000m (2:29.15).

Obiri, the reigning World Cross Country champion, also produced good shows in the Wanda Diamond League as she went unbeaten in three races over 3,000m and 5,000m.

She ran world leading time of 8:22.54 in 3,000m at the Diamond League meeting in Doha.

Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey, the World Cross Country bronze medalist, set world record of 14:06.62 in 5,000m at the NN Valencia World Record Day.

Gidey, the world 10,000m silver medalist in Doha last year, finished second in Monaco Diamond League in 5000m.

Dutch’s double world champion Sifan Hassan stands out as another hot favourite. She set a world record in 18,930m in the one hour run.

Hassan, the 2015 world 1500m bronze medalist, set European record of 29:36.67 in 10,000m –the fourth fastest performance in history.

World Athletics say the nominees were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all the six continental areas.

The nominations reflect the remarkable range of exceptional performances that the sport has witnessed this year, despite the challenges that the global Covid-19 pandemic presented. A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.

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

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

Voting for the Female World Athlete of the Year closes at midnight on Sunday, November 15. At the conclusion of the voting process, five men and five women finalists will be announced by World Athletics.

The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2020 on December 5.