Kipyegon among five finalists for Female Athlete of the Year

Multiple Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon is among the final five athletes jostling for the 2021 Female World Athlete of the Year.

World Athletics while had initially shortlisted ten athletes for the prestigious award but halved the number of contestants on Tuesday with Kipyegon's name making to the list.

The five athletes, who represent five countries from four area associations, have produced some exceptional performances across a range of athletics disciplines in 2021, at the Tokyo Olympic Games, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world.

The World Athletics silver medalist will come up against a familiar foe in Sifan Hassan whom she showed how the three and half lap race in ran in the 2020 Olympics where she obliterated the existing record set 33 years ago by Paula Ivan.

Victory in Tokyo saw her became the second woman to defend her Olympic 1500m title after Tatyana Kazankina. She is also the reigning Diamond League 1500m champion.

Other athletes in the final list are Olympic 400m hurdles champion Sydney McLughlin of the United States of America and Olympic 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica.

World triple jump record holder Yulimar Rodgers of Venezuela is also in the mix.

 The finalists are (in alphabetical order):

 Sifan Hassan, NETHERLANDS

- Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion

- Olympic 1500m bronze medallist

- Broke the world 10,000m record

 Faith Kipyegon, KENYA

- Olympic 1500m champion

- Diamond League 1500m champion

- Kenyan 1500m record

 Sydney McLaughlin, USA

- Olympic 400m hurdles champion

- Olympic 4x400m champion

- Set two world 400m hurdles records

 Yulimar Rojas, VENEZUELA

- Olympic triple jump champion

- Diamond League triple jump champion

- World triple jump record

 Elaine Thompson-Herah, JAMAICA

- Olympic 100m, 200m and 4x100m champion

- Diamond League 100m champion

- National 100m and 200m records, second fastest of all time

Voting procedure for 2021 World Athletes of the Year

A three-way voting process determined the finalists.The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans voted online via the World Athletics social media platforms. The World Athletics Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result.

 Voting closed on 6 November.The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced at the World Athletics Awards 2021, which will be held virtually on 1 December.