World Athletics announces Athlete of the Year candidates​

Havana, October 22 (RHC)-- Ten Olympic champions, two of them with world records in the current season, make up the list of nominees for the men's Athlete of the Year award unveiled by World Athletics.

Norway's Karsten Warholm (400m hurdles) and USA's Ryan Crouser (shot put) are the world record holders this season, when they also won titles at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.  However, their aspirations will be complicated, as the rest of the candidates also have "frightening" merits.

Warhom won the gold medal on Japanese soil with 45.94 seconds, a record that has become the world and Olympic record. Crouser set his world record last June with 23.37 meters, and is the only human with 27 official shots over 22.50 meters.

They will have as opponents in the voting of experts and fans other greats of the field and track as the Canadian decathlonist Damian Warner, the Ugandan long-distance runner Joshua Cheptegei, the Cuban nationalized Portuguese Pedro Pablo Pichardo -formed as a triple jumper in our country- and the Greek long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou.

The Swedish discus discus thrower Daniel Stahl, the Kenyan marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge, the Norwegian middle-distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen and the long-distance runner Armand Duplantis, also from Sweden, are the remaining protagonists of the select group.

Incidentally, the latter deserved the award in 2020 and it is not unreasonable to think that he will repeat, given his remarkable performance during a season in which, in addition to the scepter won in Tokyo, he dominated the Diamond League and the European indoor championships.

The list was compiled based on the criteria of experts representing the six geographical areas of World Athletics. The voting process will be completed through three different channels: the World Athletics Council, the so-called family of the sport that includes athletes and coaches, and the fans.

The latter will cast their criteria through social media and each like on Facebook or retweet on Twitter will count as a vote.  Meanwhile, the first two groups will have to do so using e-mail.

Voting will be open until November 6.  After that day, the five finalists will be announced and the definitive winner will be known at the traditional World Athletics Gala, to be held in early December in the Principality of Monaco.

A similar process will be followed for the women, whose list of nominees will be disclosed this Friday.  Eight other categories will also be awarded at the ceremony at the end of the year, including the Rising Star under 20, the Inspiration Award and the Woman of the Year.