World Athletics announces nominees for 2024 Athlete of the Year

Five Americans were among the 12 nominees for Athlete of the Year in women’s and men’s track and field.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who broke her world record in the 400m hurdles at the Olympics and Paris Games, and Gabby Thomas, who won gold in the 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m in Paris, are among six athlete nominees year.

On the men’s side, the list includes 100m hurdles gold medalist Noah Lyles, 110m hurdles gold medalist Grant Holloway and 400m hurdles gold medalist Ry Benjamin.

All 12 nominated athletes won individual Olympic gold in Paris.

Nominees for Women’s Athlete of the Year
Julien Alfred (St. Lucia, 100m)
Beatrice Chebet (Kenya, 5000 m, 10,000 m)
Faith Kipyegon (Kenya, 1500m)
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA, 400m hurdles)
Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic, 400 m)
Gabby Thomas (USA, 200m)

Nominees for Male Athlete of the Year
Rai Benjamin (USA, 400m hurdles)
Grant Holloway (USA, 110m hurdles)
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway, 5000 m)
Noah Lyles (USA, 100m)
Letsile Tebogo (Botswana, 200m)
Emmanuel Wanyoni (Kenya, 800m)

The nominees were compiled by an international expert group.

The two finalists for each award are determined by three-way voting from now until Sunday: World Athletics Council voting (50%), World Athletics Family voting (25%) and public voting via Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram (25%) .

A like on Facebook and Instagram or a retweet on X counts as one vote.

World Athletics has changed its awards system this year, presenting overall Sportsperson of the Year awards for women and men, as well as three separate awards for women and men for track, field and off-course events.

The nominees for the retreat were announced last Monday..

Once the finalists are determined, fan voting will open on the website. World Athletics Inside Track platform to help determine the top athletes of the year.

Last year, for the first time, World Athletics divided the World Athlete of the Year award into three categories.

The 2023 winners are Lyles (men’s track), Kipyegon (women’s track), Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis (men’s track), Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas (women’s track), Kenyan marathon runner Kelvin Kiptum (men’s track) track) and Ethiopian marathon runner Tigist. Assefa (women outside the stadium).

Until 2023, the prize winners in all competitions were one male and one female athlete. In that era, the last Americans to win the World Athlete of the Year title were McLaughlin-Levrone in 2022 for the women and decathlete Ashton Eaton in 2015 for the men.