Photo: World Athletics

Havana, November 23 (RHC)-- The circle begins to close after the announcement of the five finalists for the athlete of the year award, to be presented by World Athletics (WA) on December 1st in the Principality of Monaco.

The initial selection was of 10 names and after counting the votes cast by fans through social networks, those of the national federations and members of the WA Council, the list of candidates to win the trophy was reduced to half.

Any of the "survivors" have more than enough merits for the award, but if any distinction could be made, perhaps the world records set during the season would be the perfect extra.

In that case, only the U.S. ballista Ryan Crouser and the Norwegian hurdler Karsten Warholm are in that case. Both have Olympic gold in Tokyo and Diamond League victories to their credit.

Crouser has been unbeatable in the indoor and outdoor campaigns, has the highest records in these venues (22.82 meters and 23.37 meters) and if there is something against him, it is perhaps that his specialty is not very popular.

Warholm's performance is unusual. Twice he broke the world record for the 400m hurdles: 46.70 seconds in Oslo and 45.94 in Tokyo.

In fact, he is the first man to get under 46 seconds in what is considered the most difficult and technical sprint event, and if he wins the prize he will put the spotlight on Norway for the first time in the history of these awards.

The other three finalists also have their "own". They all won Olympic gold and reigned supreme in many other rallies... but without the added bonus of the aforementioned.

They are the Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei, Tokyo gold medalist in the 5,000 meters and silver medalist in the 10,000 meters; the Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, king of the marathon under the five rings; and the Swede Armand Duplantis, monarch of the pole vault in the Japanese capital.

The latter, in particular, lacks the addition that earned him the award in 2020. Duplantis has been trying - unsuccessfully - to beat his own world records throughout the campaign. He even gave up the first place in some other international meeting and, undoubtedly, that hampers his pretensions.

In any case, being among the five finalists is a major recognition. Something similar happens in the women's section, whose definitive candidacy will be announced this Tuesday by the WA.