Edmund Serem, Phanuel Koech battle for prestigious World Athletics award

World U20 1500m record holder, Phanuel Koech and World 3000m steeplechase bronze medalist, Edmund Serem, will battle it out for the 2025 Men's Rising Star Award.

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The duo goes up against Biniam Mehary of Ethiopia, the World U20 3000m short track record holder, for the award, which will recognise this year's best U20 athlete at the World Athletics Awards 2025.

"The nominations reflect some of the standout performances that the sport has witnessed this year, at events including the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.

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The winner of the 2025 Men's Rising Star Award will be announced on 30 November," a statement from World Athletics announcing the finalists reads in part.

At the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Paris, the Kenyan teenager, in what was just the second 1500m race of his career, catapulted himself into the sport’s consciousness by finishing second in a highly competitive field, breaking the world U20 record with 3:27.72.

But it was not just in the U20 ranks where Koech left an imprint on the history books. His time also propelled him to ninth on the senior world all-time list, bumping Olympic bronze medalist Yared Nuguse out of the top 10.

One month later in London, in Koech’s next Diamond League appearance, he won in 3:28.82 and beat then world champion Josh Kerr, among others.

In between his races in Paris and London, Koech also won at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava, clocking 3:29.05 to own three of the four fastest 1500m times by an U20 athlete.

Meanwhile, the World U20 steeplechase champion competed at the 2025 Xiamen Diamond League event in China, in April 2025, running a personal best (PB) time of 8:08.50.

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The following weekend, he secured second place at the 2025 Shanghai Diamond League, running a time of 8:08.68.

In May 2025, he ran a new PB of 8:07.47 to finish third in Rabat, following that with a steeplechase win at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi back in May. He was third in Monaco and second in Zurich before winning bronze in Tokyo.

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Meanwhile, the Women's Rising Star Award will see Birke Haylom of Ethiopia, the World U20 3000m record holder, who finished fifth at the World Indoor 3000m, compete for the recognition against the Chinese duo of Yan Ziyi, a World U20 javelin record holder and national champion and Zhang Jiale, the World U20 hammer record holder and World hammer bronze medalist.

As well as the Rising Star honours, the 2025 World Athletics Awards include the World Athlete of the Year awards, Coaching Achievement Award, Woman of the Year, Photograph of the Year, Member Federation Award and President’s Award.

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Men's Finalists

Phanuel Koech, Kenya

• world U20 1500m record

• London Diamond League winner

Biniam Mehary, Ethiopia

• world U20 3000m short track record

• world 5000m fifth place

Edmund Serem, Kenya

• world 3000m steeplechase bronze

• Diamond League final runner-up