2026 Moment of the Year award nominees
Fans have full voting power to decide the award shortlist via the World Athletics app, before expert panel picks the winner
The 18 nominees for the new Moment of the Year honour have been confirmed and the fan vote is now open to decide the shortlist from which a World Athletics expert panel will confirm the inaugural winner – to be announced as part of the World Athletics Awards in Monaco on 29 November.
The Moment of the Year award has been introduced to celebrate the most memorable occasion of the season – one that may transcend a single performance and generate emotion and inspiration among fans and spectators around the world.
Long list of nominees for the 2026 Moment of the Year:
• Tigst Assefa’s women-only world marathon record of 2:15:41 in London
• Botswana’s men’s 4x400m win on home soil at the World Athletics Relays
• Alison dos Santos’ world 400m hurdles record of 45.80 in Zurich
• The pole vault duel between Mondo Duplantis (6.25m) and Emmanouil Karalis (6.20m) in Zurich
• Simon Ehammer’s world heptathlon record of 6670 for world indoor gold in Toruń
• Keely Hodgkinson’s world 800m short track record of 1:54.87 in Liévin
• Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s return after injury to win the European 5000m title
• Melissa Jefferson-Wooden's Ultimate Championship sprint double
• Yomif Kejelcha’s world half marathon record of 56:51 in Buenos Aires
• Josh Kerr’s world mile record of 3:42.66 in London
• Agnes Ngetich’s women-only world record of 1:05:15 for world half marathon gold
• Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage’s last-round 91.09m to win the Ultimate javelin title
• Masai Russell’s world 100m hurdles record of 12.09 in Zurich
• Sabastian Sawe breaking two hours with a 1:59:30 world marathon record in London
• Gianmarco Tamberi's world high jump lead of 2.37m to win the Ultimate title
• Ja'Kobe vTharp’s world 110m hurdles record of 12.75 in the NCAA semifinals
• Audrey Werro’s 1:53.70 800m – the third-fastest time in history
• Yan Ziyi’s world U20 javelin record of 71.74m – the second-farthest throw in history
Fans can vote on their moment of the year via the official World Athletics app, which launched ahead of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in September.
Available on iOS and Android, the app brings the latest content, games, rewards, live results, performance data and more together in one personalised experience. The dedicated Awards tab, accessible from the app home page, is where fans can go to vote for their moment of the year and relive many of the highlights from the season.
The Moment of the Year fan vote will close on 26 October and the finalists will be announced on 3 November. The World Athletics expert panel will then decide on the winner from that fan-voted shortlist.
The winner will be announced live on stage during the World Athletics Awards taking place in Monaco on 29 November.
Other awards presented on stage will include the women’s and men’s World Athlete of the Year and Rising Star honours, Coach of the Year and the President’s Award.
