Kipchoge nominated for the 2022 World Athlete of the Year award

World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge has once again been nominated for the 2022 Men’s World Athlete of the Year award. Kipchoge was shortlisted for the lucrative award for smashing his own record in the Berlin Marathon held last month as well as winning the Tokyo Marathon in March.

The multiple Olympic champion over the distance lowered his world record when he coasted to victory in the German capital on September 26, clocking 2:01:09 to shave thirty seconds from his previous record that stood at two hours, a minute and thirty-nine seconds.

Before shattering the record, the decorated marathoner had cruised to victory in Tokyo in a course record on 2:02:40 and just seven months after defending his Olympic title in the streets of Sapporo, Japan.

The 37-year old who dreams of completing the Grand Slam of Marathon Majors victories before calling it a day wrapped the year in a style, lowering his personal best in Berlin to be considered for the award.

He has won the London Marathon four times so is the Berlin race. The G.O.A.T (The Greatest of All Time) has tasted victory once in Tokyo and Chicago meaning that he is left with the New York City and Boston Marathons to conquer.

Kipchoge who will be hoping to lay hands on the award for the third time has been pitted against nine more athletes who had outstanding performances in the year.

Kipchoge, previously won the award in 2018 and 2019 becoming the second male Kenyan to clinch the award after the 800m record holder David Rudisha who claimed it in 2010.

While Kipchoge will be hunting for his third title, World 3000m Steeplechase champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco who is in the list of nominated will be bidding to become the fourth African to win the award.

Apart from Kipchoge, other African athletes who have won the award before include the second fastest marathoner Kenenisa Bekele and legendary Ethiopian long distance runner Haile Gebrselassie.

Here are the nominees:

Kristjan Ceh, Slovenia

- World discus champion

- Diamond League discus champion, throwing a national record 71.27m on the circuit in Birmingham

- European discus silver medallist

Alison dos Santos, Brazil

- World 400m hurdles champion

- Diamond League 400m hurdles champion

- Ran a world-leading South American record of 46.29

Mondo Duplantis, Sweden

- World pole vault champion indoors and outdoors

- Diamond League and European pole vault champion

- Improved his world record to 6.19m and 6.20m indoors, and then 6.21m outdoors

Soufiane El Bakkali, Morocco

- World 3000m steeplechase champion

- Diamond League 3000m steeplechase champion

- Unbeaten in 2022, running a world-leading 7:58.28 in Rabat

Grant Holloway, USA

- World 110m hurdles champion

- World indoor 60m hurdles champion

- Diamond League 110m hurdles champion

Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Norway

- World 5000m champion, world 1500m silver medallist indoors and outdoors

- European 1500m and 5000m champion

- Diamond League 1500m champion in a world-leading 3:29.02

Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya

- Improved his world marathon record to 2:01:09

- Berlin Marathon champion

- Tokyo Marathon champion

Noah Lyles, USA

- World 200m champion

- Diamond League 200m champion

- Ran a world-leading national record of 19.31 to move to third on the world all-time list

Anderson Peters, Grenada

- World javelin champion

- Commonwealth javelin silver medallist

- Threw a world-leading NACAC record of 93.07m, moving to fifth on the world all-time list

Pedro Pichardo, Portugal

- World triple jump champion with a world-leading leap of 17.95m

- World indoor triple jump silver medallist

- European triple jump champion

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, Instagram and YouTube this week; a 'like' on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.

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

Voting for the World Athletes of the Year closes at midnight on Monday 31 October. At the conclusion of the voting process, five women and five men finalists will be announced by World Athletics.

The winners will be revealed on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December.

Additional Reporting by the World Athletics