Polish middle-distance runner Marcin Lewandowski has announced his retirement from athletics.
The 34-year-old won 10 medals at world and continental level across a span of 12 years. His collection includes the 2010 European 800m title and the 2019 world 1500m bronze medal.
Lewandowski posted the news on his Instagram account earlier this week, explaining that a disrupted build-up to his outdoor season meant he was not in shape to challenge for medals at this year&rsquo;s major championships.
&ldquo;After my daughter's accident during her rhythmic gymnastics class [just before the World Indoors], I decided to stay at home until Midia was fully recovered,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;Due to the fact I did not have the opportunity to train abroad, I was not able to prepare properly to defend my bronze medal from the World Championships and my silver from the European Championships and I am not interested in places outside the podium.
&ldquo;Was it a difficult decision? I didn't even think for a second because family is the priority. It was the same when I pulled out of the World Indoor Championships even though I was in great shape.
&ldquo;It was a beautiful 16 years of running &ndash; an amazing adventure that is now over. Something ends and something begins because in November I will become a dad again.&rdquo;
Lewandowski first made a name for himself as an 800m runner, placing fourth at the 2006 World U20 Championships and then winning the 2007 European U20 title. He reached the Olympic semifinals in his first year as a senior athlete in 2008, then made it to the World Championships final in 2009.
He landed European gold in 2010, following it with silver at the 2011 European Indoor Championships and fourth-place finishes at the 2011 and 2013 World Championships. After winning the 2015 European indoor 800m title, Lewandowski earned European silver in 2016 and went on to place sixth at the Olympic Games later that year, but then started to switch his focus to the 1500m.
His tactical prowess and strong finishing speed meant he was a formidable opponent at major championships. He won the 2017 European indoor title, then placed sixth in the 1500m at the 2017 World Championships later that year. In 2018 he won his first global medal when taking 1500m silver at the World Indoor Championships. He earned the same colour medal at the 2018 European Championships.
Lewandowski retained his European indoor 1500m title in 2019, then went on to earn his first and only outdoor global medal in 2019, placing third at the World Championships in Doha. His most recent podium finish was his 1500m silver at the 2021 European Indoor Championships.
Although best known as a championship performer, Lewandowski clocked several speedy performances throughout his career. He holds the Polish indoor and outdoor records for 1000m (2:14.30 / 2:17.67), 1500m (3:30.42 / 3:35.71) and the mile (3:49.11 / 3:56.41).

The 34-year-old won 10 medals at world and continental level across a span of 12 years

Two-time global medallist and four-time continental champion Lewandowski retires

Two-time world indoor 1500m champion Samuel Tefera will go up against Olympic bronze medallist Josh Kerr at the M&uuml;ller Birmingham Diamond League, the second meeting of the 2022 Wanda Diamond League series, at the Alexander Stadium on Saturday 21 May.
Tefera often performs well in the UK. In 2018 he won the world indoor 1500m title in Birmingham, then he returned to that city in 2019 and set a world indoor 1500m record of 3:31.04. Later that year at the Diamond League meeting in London, Tefera won the Emsley Carr mile in a world-leading 3:49.45.
Last week Tefera successfully defended his world indoor 1500m title in Belgrade, beating Olympic champion and world indoor record-holder Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the process.
Kerr, who has a 1500m PB of 3:29.05, is ranked second on the British all-time list. He took down the British indoor 1500m (3:32.86) and European indoor mile (3:48.87) records in Boston in February and goes into this summer as a proven championship racer with a realistic focus on winning medals.
&ldquo;Making the podium in Tokyo might have been a surprise to some people, but it wasn&rsquo;t a surprise to me,&rdquo; said Kerr. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t race too often, but I build consistent training blocks. I&rsquo;m not one for big training camps and expensive facilities, but I work hard, and I have great belief in myself. I just keep my head down and stack the good days.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve enjoyed running fast this winter and I definitely want to continue that form and take down the British outdoor 1500m record, but it&rsquo;s winning medals this summer that counts. My goal in Birmingham is to lay down a marker for the rest of the season as I prepare for the World Championships and Commonwealth Games.&rdquo;
Organisers for World Athletics

Two-time world indoor 1500m champion goes up against Olympic bronze medallist 

Tefera takes on Kerr in Birmingham

Men's world indoor 1500m&nbsp;record 3:30.60&nbsp;Jakob Ingebrigtsen&nbsp;(NOR) Lievin 17 February 2022 &nbsp; The world indoor 1500m record set by Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin last month has been ratified.
Running 3:30.60 at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais on 17 February, Norway's Olympic champion took almost half a second off the previous record of 3:31.04 that had been run by Ethiopia's Samuel Tefera in Birmingham on 16 February 2019. 
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 Paced by Julien Ranc, and then Erik Sowinski, Ingebrigtsen passed through 600m in 1:24.66 and 800m in 1:52.86. He reached 1000m in 2:20.98, bang on target, and then started to pick up the pace for the final two laps. By the time he reached the bell in 3:03.04, he had opened up a significant gap on his one remaining opponent: Tefera.
Ingebrigtsen covered the final lap in 27.57 seconds, reaching the finish line in 3:30.60 to take 0.44 off Tefera's record. Tefera finished second in 3:33.70 and Spain&rsquo;s Ignacio Fontes was a distant third in 3:37.39.
"I wanted to break the world indoor record last year, even though it wasn&rsquo;t the main goal then," said Ingebrigtsen, who set a European indoor record of 3:31.80 when winning in Lievin in 2021.
"I want to improve and run faster than I have done before. It&rsquo;s everyone&rsquo;s dream to win championships and beat records. This is my first world record; hopefully more will come, but this is a big dream come true."
He will next race at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 where he will again go head-to-head with Tefera, the defending champion, in the 1500m.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-indoor-championships/belgrade22/news/preview/1500m-preview-men-belgrade-ingebrigtsen-tefera" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-indoor-championships/belgrade22/news/preview/1500m-preview-men-belgrade-ingebrigtsen-tefera">Race preview.</a>
&bull;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-indoor-tour/news/hauts-france-lievin-ingebrigtsen-world-indoor-1500m-record" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-indoor-tour/news/hauts-france-lievin-ingebrigtsen-world-indoor-1500m-record">Full event report</a> World Athletics

The Olympic champion's 3:30.60 is now official.

Ratified: world indoor 1500m record for Ingebrigtsen

The past six winners of the women&rsquo;s world indoor 1500m title have all either been Ethiopian or Ethiopian-born: Genzebe Dibaba (2018 and 2012), naturalised Netherlander Sifan Hissan (2016) and Swede Abeba Aregawi (2014), Kalkidan Gezahegne (2010) and Gelete Burka (2008). The sequence is unlikely to be broken in Belgrade.
In physical terms, Gudaf Tsegay might be only 1.63m (5ft 4in) tall but metaphorically the 25-year-old stands head and shoulders above the rest of the 22-strong entry list. In February last year she relieved Dibaba of the world indoor record with her sensational 3:53.09 run in Lievin and, 13 months on, the form book suggests that the clear world leader will succeed her compatriot as world indoor champion.
Tsegay ran a scorching 3:54.77 in Torun on 22 February, the second fastest in history, and 3:57.38 in Madrid on 2 March. Nobody else has cracked four minutes indoors in 2022. The next quickest is also Ethiopian. Axumawit Embaye, who won in Karlsruhe in 4:02.12, finished second to Aregawi in Sopot in 2014 and fourth in Portland in 2016 &ndash; behind Hassan and Ethiopian team-mates Dawit Seyaum and Tsegay.
Tsegay has won all nine races she has contested at all distances in the past three indoor seasons. Her last indoor defeat dates back to 8 February 2019, when she finished fourth over 3000m in Madrid.
She has not lost a 1500m race indoors or outdoors since the 2019 World Championships final in Doha, when she finished third behind Hassan and Kenya&rsquo;s Faith Kipyegon. Her last indoor defeat at the distance was on 10 February 2018, when she placed third at the World Indoor Tour event in Boston.
Even when she fell on the opening lap of the mile race at this year&rsquo;s Lievin meeting in February, she picked herself up, resisted a mid-race challenge from Embaye, and&nbsp; proceeded to win comfortably in 4:21.72, breaking the 20-year-old meeting record.
Tsegay is on a run of three global bronzes, having finished third in the 2016 world indoor 1500m final, the 2019 world outdoor final in Doha and in the 5000m final at the Tokyo Olympics last year. Barring unforeseen disaster, the 2014 world U20 silver medallist&rsquo;s long pursuit of a Midas touch seems destined to finally meet with a golden global success in Belgrade.
Heather Maclean could be a danger in a tactical affair, having gone from fifth to first with a 29.71-second last lap at the US Indoor Championships. Josette Norris, who finished second in that race, has also displayed great form this year. 
Other potential podium placers include Ethiopia&rsquo;s 2019 African Games 800m champion Hirut Meshesha, who was second in Karlsruhe in 4:02.22, and Uganda&rsquo;s Winnie Nanyondo. Fourth in the 800m at the 2019 World Championships, Nanyondo improved her Ugandan indoor 1500m record to 4:03.54 in Torun.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics

World Athletics Indoor Championships

A look at the contenders in the women's 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

1500m favourite Tsegay sets sights on first global title in Belgrade

Two global champions are on a collision course in the men&rsquo;s 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, with Olympic gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway looking to depose Ethiopia&rsquo;s Samuel Tefera as the world indoor champion.
Based on their recent clash in Lievin, where Ingebrigtsen broke Tefera&rsquo;s world indoor 1500m record, clocking 3:30.60, the pressure and expectation will rest with the 21-year-old Norwegian. That Lievin race was Ingebrigtsen&rsquo;s sole outing of the indoor season, and he looked majestic as he bounded away from Tefera over the final 300 metres after the pacemaker stepped aside.
A championship final, of course, will present a very different challenge, but Ingebrigtsen showed in Tokyo and at last year&rsquo;s European Indoor Championships that he has the tactical nous to go with his physical gifts. With his long-time rival Timothy Cheruiyot bypassing the indoor season, he will likely have to do his own pace-making if he wants a fast final, the kind of race in which he has become nigh-on unbeatable.
Tefera, however, will not go down without a considerable fight, and the 22-year-old Ethiopian gave Ingebrigtsen a much better race in Lievin than the three-second margin of victory suggested.
Perhaps Ingebrigtsen&rsquo;s biggest challenger, though, will be Kenya&rsquo;s Abel Kipsang. He finished fourth in the Olympic final last year and showed impressive indoor credentials when taking victory in Birmingham last month in 3:34.57. A recent 1:45.84 clocking for 800m outdoors in Nairobi signals he&rsquo;s got the speed to be a threat here.
The British challenge will be led by Neil Gourley, who clocked 3:35.32 in Boston last month and who was runner-up in a slow 1500m final at the British Indoor Championships. He will be joined by George Mills, who impressed in Birmingham last month when clocking a PB of 3:36.03 against a world-class field.
Another athlete keen to see a fast final will be Oliver Hoare, the Australian who clocked a 3:50.83 mile to win at the Millrose Games in New York in January. In that race he powered away from Olympic bronze medallist Josh Kerr, showing the kind of closing speed and strength that will make him dangerous, particularly in a fast race.
Spain&rsquo;s Ignacio Fontes, like Hoare, was an Olympic finalist last year and he booked his place here with a runner-up finish behind Adel Mechaal at the Spanish Indoor Championships, with Mechaal later electing to focus on the 3000m in Belgrade.
Germany&rsquo;s Robert Farken is another who&rsquo;ll have high expectations after the 24-year-old lowered his PB to 3:35.44 in Birmingham last month, while Ethiopia&rsquo;s Teddese Lemi clocked an indoor PB of 3:35.84 last month and has 1:44 800m speed &ndash; which should prove useful in this realm.
Ireland&rsquo;s Andrew Coscoran will be hoping to reproduce the form that saw him take victory in Staten Island last month with a 3:53.64 mile, where he was followed in third place by compatriot Luke McCann, who will join him in Belgrade.
The US charge will be led by Josh Thompson and Sam Prakel, who finished second and fourth respectively at their national championships.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the men's 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Global 1500m champions Ingebrigtsen and Tefera ready to clash in Belgrade

Josh Kerr knows the history, that long line of British middle-distance greats who all but monopolised the men&rsquo;s 1500m back in the 1980s. Those names &ndash; Coe, Cram, Ovett, Elliott &ndash; conjure up memories of grainy footage, the kind Kerr has watched countless times on YouTube.&nbsp;
Now that he&rsquo;s run faster than them all &ndash; his PB of 3:29.05 is behind only Mo Farah on the British all-time list &ndash; Kerr feels part of that lineage, especially after winning an Olympic bronze medal last year.&nbsp;
But as much as he appreciates the achievements of past generations, the 24-year-old Scot is keen to kickstart a new golden era.
&ldquo;Myself and (Jake) Wightman, we&rsquo;ve run faster than all those guys but they&rsquo;re not known for how fast they ran, they&rsquo;re known for what medals they won and what colours they are,&rdquo; says Kerr. &ldquo;We hadn&rsquo;t won an Olympic medal in 33 years and hopefully we&rsquo;re moving back into an era people will remember as the Kerr-Wightman era. I want to leave a stamp on the 1500 and grab that British record as an extra.
&ldquo;But,&rdquo; he adds, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s mostly about medals.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6203c186c950b7d91622f32f.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Britain's Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman in the 1500m final at the Tokyo Olympics (&copy; Getty Images)
 The game is changing these days. In the decade preceding the 2019 World Championships, the quickest winning time in a global 1500m final was 3:33.61, and in just two out of seven championships did the winner come home in under 3:35.&nbsp;
Then there was Doha, where Timothy Cheruiyot blitzed a solo 3:29.26 to take gold. Two years later in Tokyo, Jakob Ingebrigtsen outkicked and outlasted Cheruiyot to set an Olympic record of 3:28.32.
Cheruiyot is 26, Ingebrigtsen is 21. Neither is going anywhere any time soon, and both are at their best when the pace is hard from the gun, which means that when it comes to global finals, the future is almost certainly fast.&nbsp;
Kerr knows this, and he prepares accordingly.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The 1500 has evolved over the last two or three years,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We have to be strong and we train like a 5km athlete. That helps, knowing I&rsquo;m going to get better round by round. It&rsquo;s exciting for people to watch and it&rsquo;s really hard for us racing, but that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re there for: to find the best.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I do believe the world and Olympic champions over the next three or four years will be true champions &ndash; who are the best at the distance. Jakob last year was the best and he showed that in the final and Cheruiyot was second and I was third: those are honest, clear-cut, black-and-white results, and you can&rsquo;t ask for anything more.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6203c36a5073aea7af6f2e7a.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Medallists Josh Kerr, Timothy Cheruiyot and Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the Olympic 1500m final in Tokyo (&copy; Getty Images)
 Kerr prepared for Tokyo in his typical manner, racking up 65-70 miles (104-112km) a week in training, along with two gym sessions. It&rsquo;s been his approach since 2018, when he joined the Brooks Beasts in Seattle and began training with coach Danny Mackey.&nbsp;
Being a three-time NCAA champion for the University of New Mexico, the Scottish athlete had a wealth of options in the professional ranks. Why did he choose the Brooks Beasts? It came down to his trust in Mackey.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had the most amazing, honest conversations with him,&rdquo; says Kerr. &ldquo;He knows me very well, I know him very well. He said, &lsquo;this is the coach I am, we&rsquo;re not the flashiest group but you come here, you&rsquo;ll get better.&rsquo; He stayed true to that promise. I&rsquo;ve got six seconds quicker since I&rsquo;ve gone there.
&ldquo;The training isn&rsquo;t massively intense but what I do really well: my injury rate is really low and I&rsquo;m able to stack a bunch of days together and it ends up being a phenomenal fitness level.&rdquo;
That was exactly what Kerr carried to Tokyo, and while his 1500m PB of 3:31.55 had many underrating him at the time, his workouts convinced him he was ready to run 3:28.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I thought, &lsquo;you know what, the best way to run that is evenly,&rsquo;&rdquo; says Kerr. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t planning on being so far at the back after the first lap but it was just so fast.&rdquo;
Kerr narrowly avoided disaster in the heats, scraping through as a non-automatic qualifier, but he was far more convincing in the semifinal, finishing a close third.
After the first lap of the final, with Ingebrigtsen pouring it on from the outset, Kerr was 10th, splitting 57.3 seconds. By 800m he&rsquo;d moved up to seventh. By 1200m, he was fourth, and ready to take aim at the big two out front &ndash; Ingebrigtsen and Cheruiyot &ndash; along with Abel Kipsang of Kenya. Kerr waited until the home straight before going for broke, overtaking Kipsang and finishing just 0.04 behind Cheruiyot.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I was hoping for a better medal than the one I got,&rdquo; he says now. &nbsp; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61ddd075e35e3cee11c48c96.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Josh Kerr now runs for&nbsp;Brooks Beasts&nbsp;(&copy; Kirby Lee)
 After the Games, he went to Albuquerque, USA, to spend time with his fiancee and a few weeks later he returned to Scotland. The last six months have been a &ldquo;whirlwind&rdquo;, but after a few weeks off Kerr was back into base training to prepare for better things again in 2022.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s about building the motivation back up, climbing back up the hill with fitness and trying to show some better performances,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And hopefully better colour of medals.&rdquo;
He had just one race set in stone for the indoor season: the Wanamaker Mile at last month's Millrose Games, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event. After biding his time for seven laps, Kerr powered to the lead at the bell, but couldn&rsquo;t hold off the vicious surge of longtime rival Ollie Hoare, who won in 3:50.83 with Kerr second in 3:52.27, just shy of Peter Elliott&rsquo;s British record of 3:52.02.&nbsp;
&ldquo;First one of the season is always going to be a bit rocky but I told myself I&rsquo;d be aggressive, I&rsquo;d push,&rdquo; says Kerr. &ldquo;I may have pushed a little bit too early, but I gave it my all. I like to press a little bit and see who falls apart, and it might be me. I&rsquo;m not scared of anyone or any distance or any race.&rdquo;
That may be Kerr&rsquo;s only race of the indoor season. With an outdoor season overflowing with medal opportunities, he&rsquo;s giving that his prime focus.&nbsp;
His main targets are the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in July and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Only after that will he make a decision on the European Championships in Munich.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Because that&rsquo;s enough for my brain to explode,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll take it step by step.&rdquo;
When he speaks of such championships, Kerr does so with a calm but resolute confidence that he can beat whoever he faces. It&rsquo;s not surprising, given he has a habit of toppling favourites.&nbsp;
When he lined up in the mile at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships, he was a 19-year-old with a 1500m personal best of 3:41.08 &ndash; an athlete no one expected to challenge the all-conquering Ed Cheserek.&nbsp;
When Kerr surged past Cheserek with two laps to run, the ESPN commentator all but dismissed his chances: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s Josh Kerr, the New Mexico freshman, and that may just be a freshman move.&rdquo;&nbsp;
But it wasn&rsquo;t. Kerr ran Cheserek into the ground during the final lap, coming home a distant winner. He added the NCAA title outdoors that year &ndash; winning the 1500m at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon &ndash; and repeated his indoor win in 2018. Those successes taught him he could contend at global level.&nbsp; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6203c0885779ff84c1a731db.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Josh Kerr winning the 2017 NCAA 1500m title at&nbsp;Eugene's Hayward Field&nbsp;(&copy;&nbsp;Kirby Lee)
 &ldquo;You have that mindset of wanting to be the champ, to go after the fastest guys,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t care who anyone is, and if you have that fearless mentality you&rsquo;re going to be fine in the pros. But if you always look at stats and look up to these guys, you&rsquo;re going to find it hard to toe the line against them.&rdquo;
Does he believe he can match Ingebrigtsen and Cheruiyot this summer?
&ldquo;Yeah, definitely,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite funny, but people were saying, &lsquo;any other Olympics you&rsquo;d have won with the times,&rsquo; but they&rsquo;re different races. The 1500m is exploding because of the way we&rsquo;re running these races. Those guys are doing great things for the sport.&rdquo;
Kerr knows those two will likely be the men to beat again in Eugene this summer. He&rsquo;s not yet raced in the new-and-improved Hayward Field, but is relishing the chance to do so.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s over the top,&rdquo; he laughs. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a phenomenal facility and I&rsquo;m excited to go there and run fast. It&rsquo;s built for fast times and for history to be made, and that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s going to happen this year.&rdquo;&nbsp;
He knows his sport&rsquo;s history, but he also knows his own, and Kerr can extrapolate plenty from it about what might lie ahead.
&ldquo;I was 37th (at the World Championships) in 2017, sixth in 2019, and third (at the Olympics) in 2021,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;So in 2022 the trajectory is looking like second or first. That&rsquo;s always what I&rsquo;m going for. I&rsquo;m always looking for progress.&rdquo;
Cathal&nbsp;Dennehy for World Athletics

World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022

The Olympic bronze medallist is keen to kickstart a new golden era.

Kerr hopes to make history at Hayward Field

Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen is to return to race at the&nbsp;Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais, a&nbsp;World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting, in Lievin on 17 February.
The 21-year-old opened his 2021 season with victory in Lievin, breaking the European 1500m record with&nbsp;3:31.80 after a dominant run which saw him win by five seconds and improve&nbsp;Hicham el Guerrouj&rsquo;s meeting record by 0.21.
That performance put him fifth on the world all-time list, just 0.76 off Samuel Tefera's world indoor record set in 2019.
Ingebrigtsen&nbsp;went on to achieve a gold medal double at the European Indoor Championships in Torun, taking titles in the 1500m and 3000m, before an outdoor season which included his Olympic 1500m victory in Tokyo.
He will be joined in the&nbsp;Lievin 1500m&nbsp;field by his brother Filip, the 2017 world bronze medallist.
The Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais is one of the seven Gold-level World Indoor Tour meetings taking place in 2022. In 2021, the meeting was highlighted by&nbsp;Gudaf Tsegay's world indoor 1500m record and the 24-year-old Ethiopian will&nbsp;also be back in Lievin next month to race the mile.
Other athletes announced for the meeting include Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs. The Italian sprinter achieved his first victory of 2021 in the French town, winning the 60m in 6.54.

Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen is to return to race at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais.

Ingebrigtsen returns to race Lievin 1500m

A look back at the key moments of 2021 in the middle and long distance events

2021 review: middle and long distance

We continue our countdown to the World Athletics Awards 2021 on 1 December by taking a closer look at the achievements of the five women and five men who have this week been confirmed as the finalists for the Athlete of the Year awards.
&nbsp;
<h2>Faith Kipyegon</h2>
Even by the lofty standards that any defending Olympic champion would set for themselves, Faith Kipyegon exceeded all expectations in 2021.
The Kenyan middle-distance runner retained her Olympic 1500m crown in a Games record, set a world-leading time over 1500m, and won nine of her 10 races throughout the year, producing some of the fastest times in history.
She stepped down in distance to the 800m when she opened her season at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Doha at the end of May, comfortably beating a field of two-lap specialists to win in 1:58.26.
Two weeks later, she contested her first 1500m of the season at the Diamond League meeting in Florence. In another epic clash with arch rival Sifan Hassan, Kipyegon finished a close second in 3:53.91, breaking her own Kenyan record in the process. That was to be the last and only one of her races of 2021 in which Kipyegon was beaten.
One month later, and having had a few races under her belt, Kipyegon gained revenge on Hassan at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco. She kicked hard as she came off the final bend, opening up a huge gap on Hassan to win by more than two seconds in 3:51.07, the fourth-fastest time in history and just one second shy of the world record. 
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 It was the perfect confidence booster ahead of the Olympic Games in Tokyo &ndash; not that Kipyegon has ever been lacking in self-belief. Even when Hassan announced that she&rsquo;d be attempting an ambitious triple at the Games, Kipyegon remained quietly confident.
She advanced through the rounds with ease, winning her heat in 4:01.40 and her semifinal in 3:56.80. But Hassan &ndash; the only woman to have beaten Kipyegon over 1500m since the start of 2017 &ndash; was on a roll, having won gold over 5000m just four days before the 1500m final, and looked invincible every time she set foot on Tokyo&rsquo;s track.
The Olympic final played out in similar fashion to the World Championships final from 2019 with Hassan and Kipyegon dictating the pace, keeping the likes of Laura Muir and Gabriela Debues-Stafford at bay. The first 1000m was covered in 2:38.4 and the pace gradually increased as the race went on until Kipyegon made her decisive move with half a lap left.
Kicking hard on the final bend, Kipyegon managed to shake off a fading Hassan as she sprinted to victory, eventually crossing the line in 3:53.11 to break an Olympic record that had stood for 33 years. Muir came through to take silver ahead of Hassan. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/610d6f50684c216666b4f558.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;Once I crossed the finish line, it was a very emotional moment for me,&rdquo; said Kipyegon after becoming just the second woman in Olympic history to win back-to-back 1500m titles. &ldquo;I thought about my daughter (Alyn) who I left behind at home. She wanted me to bring home a gold medal, and I am so happy and excited I did that.&rdquo;
Having achieved her fifth consecutive top-two finish at a global championships, Kipyegon didn&rsquo;t take her foot off the gas. She went on to win at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene, setting a US all-comer&rsquo;s record of 3:53.23, and then won the Diamond Trophy in Zurich in 3:58.33, once again beating Hassan to the title. Fittingly, she capped her season on home soil with a victory at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Nairobi.
By the time she wound down her season in mid-September, Kipyegon had become the first woman in history to break 3:54 four times in one year. And although she is better known for being a championship performer than a time-trial runner, the 27-year-old now owns three of the 10 fastest times in history.
&ldquo;I came back after giving birth and I feel like a role model for the young mothers out there and the young athletes,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I hope to show them that when you go for maternity leave, this does not mean the end of your career. You can come back strong and win races.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<h2>Ryan Crouser</h2>
Where to begin when trying to describe the dominance US shot putter Ryan Crouser has shown in 2021?
His world records &ndash; 23.37m outdoors and 22.82m indoors &ndash; are probably the best starting point. Both of the previous marks had been set more than 30 years prior.
Or perhaps his performance at the Tokyo Olympics, where he smashed the Games record with 23.30m to win gold. For context, silver medallist Joe Kovacs threw 22.65m &ndash; comfortably in excess of the previous Olympic record &ndash; but Crouser beat him by a whopping 65 centimetres.
Or maybe his flawless season of 16 victories (including qualifying rounds) is more notable, extending his current two-year unbeaten streak to 27 wins.
But his incredible tally of 22-metre &ndash; and now 23-metre &ndash; throws cannot be ignored. He racked up 58 throws beyond 22 metres this year alone &ndash; more than any other shot putter has achieved across a whole career span, and he now owns the three farthest throws in history. 
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 Crouser started 2021, quite literally, how he meant to go on; in the first round of his first competition of the year, he broke the world indoor record. His 22.82m throw in Fayetteville added 16 centimetres to the record, and he backed it up later in the series with a throw of 22.70m, also beyond the previous mark.
He opened his outdoor campaign with 21.93m, which, despite being a world-leading mark at the time, was the only competition in which Crouser didn&rsquo;t throw beyond 22 metres. He followed it with wins in Fayetteville (22.69m) and Tucson (22.60m) and then returned to Tucson to throw a world-leading PB of 23.01m &ndash; the first 23-metre throw in the world for 31 years.
Crouser didn&rsquo;t compete again until the US Trials one month later. After breaking the meeting record in qualifying with 22.92m, Crouser smashed the world record in the final with 23.37m, adding 25 centimetres to the long-standing mark.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve wanted that world record for so long, it feels like a weight has been lifted,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I've been thinking about this moment since I started throwing. To finally do it is pretty special."
At the Olympics in Tokyo, he lived up to his status as one of the biggest favourites in any discipline and secured gold with an Olympic record of 23.30m. His five other throws in the final &ndash; 22.54m, 22.74m, 22.83m, 22.86m and 22.93m &ndash; were all beyond the previous Olympic record. 
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 Crouser was determined to win in Tokyo to honour his grandfather Larry, the patriarch of the Crouser throwing dynasty which has spawned three Olympians, who died the week before his grandson left for Tokyo.
After his triumph, Crouser held up a handwritten sign that said: &ldquo;Grandpa, we did it. 2020 Olympic champion."
&ldquo;My Grandpa got me started throwing, and he played a huge role in my throwing career,&rdquo; said Crouser. &ldquo;To lose him the week before coming to the Olympics obviously was sad, but I feel like he was able to be here in spirit.&rdquo;
Crouser&rsquo;s fine run of form continued after the Olympics. Returning to Eugene&rsquo;s Hayward Field &ndash; the site of Crouser&rsquo;s world record earlier in the year and venue for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 &ndash; Crouser set a Wanda Diamond League record with 23.15m.
Victories in Lausanne (22.81m) and Chorzow (22.39m) followed, then he won the Diamond Trophy in Zurich with 22.67m. He ended his season with a 22.84m triumph in Zagreb.
Whichever way you look at it, Crouser has produced not only the greatest ever shot put season this year, his 2021 campaign could well be one of the best seasons of any track and field athlete in history.

We take a closer look at the achievements of the five women and five men who have been confirmed as finalists for Athlete of the Year.

Focus on finalists: Faith Kipyegon and Ryan Crouser

We continue our countdown to the World Athletics Awards 2021 on 1 December by taking a closer look at the achievements of the five women and five men who have this week been confirmed as the finalists for the Athlete of the Year awards.
&nbsp;
<h2>Sifan Hassan</h2>
&ldquo;If you do long distance,&rdquo; said Sifan Hassan after claiming her third Olympic medal in Tokyo, &ldquo;it's like building a house.&rdquo; If that&rsquo;s the case, then the Dutch distance running star has produced a palace in 2021.
Hassan was replying to a comment about her having been seen running in the Olympic Village in between her nine-day schedule of six races in Japan. "It's not only about talent,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;You can have two or three talents, but you have to work hard also."
So there she was, building hard towards her unprecedented medal treble. It paid off, as she left Japan with two golds, in the 5000m and 10,000m, plus bronze in the 1500m. Eleventh on the medals table &ndash; that&rsquo;s where Hassan would have placed had she formed her own one-woman team.
"Many people doubted that it would happen,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Is it possible, is it not possible? When I think about it, it feels like a dream. But it has happened.
&ldquo;This Olympics is one of the best feelings I've ever had in my life. It's something special. I'll never forget it.&rdquo;
Hassan&rsquo;s season had started with wins over 5000m and 800m in the USA in May, but she took things to another level a couple of weeks later. Running 29:06.82 at the FBK Games in Hengelo, the 28-year-old took more than 10 seconds off the world 10,000m record that had been set by Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. 
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 &ldquo;I am so happy to share this record in front of my Dutch fans,&rdquo; said Hassan, who had previously broken world records in the mile, one hour event and road 5km.
Incredibly, the 10,000m mark stood just two days, as back on the same Hengelo track, Letesenbet Gidey improved it by a further five seconds to 29:01.03 to win the Ethiopian Trials.
But rather than that world record being the pinnacle of her season, Hassan was only just getting started. Four days after her Hengelo run, she ran 3:53.63 for a 1500m win at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Florence. The following month she clocked 3:53.60 to place second in Monaco &ndash; behind Kenya&rsquo;s Faith Kipyegon, who would go on to retain her Olympic title &ndash; and then it was time for Tokyo. 
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 First came 5000m gold. Despite running, and falling, in the 1500m heats earlier on in the day, Hassan returned to the track 12 hours later to clock 14:36.79 after timing her winning kick to perfection.
Four days later she secured bronze in the 1500m behind Kipyegon and Britain&rsquo;s Laura Muir and she was back on the track less than 24 hours after that, seeking to become only the second woman after Ethiopia&rsquo;s Tirunesh Dibaba in 2008 to complete the Olympic 5000m and 10,000m double.
She achieved it. Unleashing her trademark kick, she covered the final 100m in 13.6, clocking 29:55.32 to get gold.
&ldquo;I am so happy and I cried during the medal ceremony,&rdquo; said Hassan. &ldquo;I actually realised that I am done, the Games are over.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<h2>Joshua Cheptegei</h2>
The world 5000m record-breaker became the Olympic champion in 2021. Despite wondering whether he should even race the event at all in Tokyo, Joshua Cheptegei rebounded to get 5000m gold, running the second-fastest ever Olympic time of 12:58.15 one week after securing silver in the 10,000m.
&ldquo;I have learned the most important things are achieved no matter the difficulties or challenges,&rdquo; Cheptegei told NN Running Team when reflecting on his year. &ldquo;Of course, I don&rsquo;t look at my medal every day, but when I do it acts as a reminder that, wow, I can fight back, and I know in the future I can get better and better.&rdquo;
That&rsquo;s an exciting prospect, given that the Ugandan 25-year-old is already a treble world record-holder, a world champion and now an Olympic champion.
After the high of setting world records at 5000m, 10,000m and 5km on the road in 2020, Cheptegei started this year on a winning note, claiming victory at the Monaco Run &ndash; the same event at which he broke the world record with 12:51 12 months earlier. 
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 But then an infection affected his preparations for the Olympic Games and after a 3000m win at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava, he was disappointed to place sixth at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Florence. &ldquo;I was not really healthy at the time with an infection. It shattered my body,&rdquo; he said.
After winning the world 10,000m title in Doha in 2019, Cheptegei was determined to add another global title to his CV, so he refocused ahead of the Olympics. Lining up for his sole 10,000m race of the year, he was slightly ahead with four laps to go and followed Ethiopia&rsquo;s Selemon Barega as he led at the bell, crossing the finish line in 27:43.63 for his first Olympic medal.
Four days later he was back in action for the 5000m heats, before he took his place in the final a week after his 10,000m silver medal performance.
&ldquo;Part of me thought it was not a wise decision to race,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but the other part said, no, you&rsquo;ve prepared for this.&rdquo;
This time, only a win would do. 
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 With 600m remaining, he made his move and surged away untroubled, gaining victory in 12:58.15 &ndash; a winning time only bettered at the Olympics by Kenenisa Bekele&rsquo;s Games record of 12:57.82 from 2008.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really a great moment,&rdquo; he said afterwards. &ldquo;I made a small mistake and I was regretting (having) to become a silver medallist (in the 10,000m).
&ldquo;I came here to become an Olympic champion and my dream has been fulfilled today on a beautiful evening.&rdquo;
After Tokyo, he had one more race left to run &ndash; the two miles at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene. Clocking a world-leading 8:09.55, he ended his year on a high.
&ldquo;It really means a lot to me to win here in Oregon,&rdquo; he said, fresh from racing on the track that will host next year&rsquo;s World Athletics Championships, &ldquo;and it will always be in my heart.&rdquo;

Focus on finalists: Sifan Hassan and Joshua Cheptegei

Ask Kamar Etiang his goals for the future and the Kenyan 18-year-old isn&rsquo;t shy about making a bold prediction.
&ldquo;The next few years, I can run the (1500m) world record of (Hicham) El Guerrouj,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I can make it. Even 3000m is possible to me.&rdquo;
The two marks he speaks of &ndash; 3:26.00 and 7:20.67 &ndash; have stood unchallenged for 23 years and 25 years respectively, but Etiang looks at them &ndash; out there as they are &ndash; and thinks, &lsquo;why not&rsquo;?
Such confidence is rare, but it&rsquo;s based on what he&rsquo;s experienced during this, his breakthrough year. Virtually unknown at the start of the season, Etiang shook up many established seniors at the Kenyan Olympic Trials in June, finishing second to Charles Simotwo in a huge personal best of 3:33.02. Behind him that day were Timothy Cheruiyot and Abel Kipsang, who would go on to finish second and fourth in the Olympic final.
They both clocked 3:29 in that race, a time Etiang believes is well within his compass. In the years ahead, he intends to prove it.
The first time his coach, Peter Bii, came across him, Etiang was racing the U20 8000m race at the Discovery Cross Country in Eldoret.
&ldquo;The first two laps he was in the first group, the third and fourth he was dropping (his rivals),&rdquo; says Bii. &ldquo;I knew if we do something extra (in training), he would be good.&rdquo;
Their first conversation, however, was not so much about what the work Etiang was doing. Bii tried to gauge how committed the youngster was to the sport.
&ldquo;It was about discipline, (finding) someone who listens, someone who can be moulded to be something,&rdquo; says Bii. &ldquo;Sometimes you get a good athlete but you cannot guide them. I saw in him the discipline, the morale to make it. If you have that, the rest can be done &ndash; the training is easy.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6148831d3d2606d0d78aca4f.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Kamar Etiang and his coach Peter Bii (&copy;&nbsp;Erick Baraza)
 Etiang grew up in Turkana County in the northwest of Kenya and at the age of six he moved to Trans-Nzoia County. &ldquo;Others are reared by their mother, but mostly my grandmother took me when I was young,&rdquo; he says.
He played volleyball at school, which was also where he first picked up running, though Etiang never took it seriously until the last few years. Shortly after that Discovery Cross Country he moved to Iten and joined the Asics Chojo Camp, a group of 32 athletes who train under the guidance of Bii and who are represented by the Mezzo Management Group. Etiang has been based there for almost two years now, with running his sole obsession.
&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t put two things in once,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You focus first to achieve that one.&rdquo;
During his base training, he&rsquo;ll typically run 130-150km per week, but as the intensity rises coming into the track season that drops substantially to around 80-100km each week.
&ldquo;I benefit a lot,&rdquo; he says of the Asics Chojo Camp. &ldquo;If we go to the field we assist each other to grow, to finish workouts. We motivate each other.&rdquo;
It is Etiang&rsquo;s own ascent that has been the group&rsquo;s most striking breakthrough. In early 2020, he was targeting both the Olympics and the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi, but when both of those were pushed back a year he faced the same struggles as so many others, trying his best to maintain the usual routine.
&ldquo;It was a big challenge, but coach told me: &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t give up, we can achieve more,&rsquo;&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We started again building up.&rdquo;
In 2021 he announced his world-class talent with that second place at the Olympic Trials but was omitted from the Kenyan team for the Tokyo Games. The disappointment stung for a while, but Etiang has learned to let it go.
&ldquo;Coach told me: &lsquo;Leave the things in the past and focus on this and this &ndash; we can achieve more,&rsquo;&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The Olympics is not the end of life; there are many races we can run to prove our talent.&rdquo;
One of those was the World Athletics U20 Championships Nairobi 21, where Etiang was the favourite for the men&rsquo;s 1500m. But things didn&rsquo;t go to plan, a hamstring injury he picked up on the build-up coming back to haunt him in the final.
&ldquo;In the second lap I felt the leg pulling, when I went to up the pace the leg wouldn&rsquo;t respond,&rdquo; says Etiang, who crossed the line third but lost the bronze medal after being disqualified for a lane infringement. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6148837e3d2606d0d78aca52.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Kamar Etiang in training (&copy; Kimesh Pictures)
 Etiang has a strong relationship with Bii, and believes he is the man to guide him to become the fastest of all time.
&ldquo;Everything he told me to do, I do,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s like my father. Everything is possible when I listen to the coach and focus.&rdquo;
Bii knows that world U20 final was an anomaly &ndash; a small bump on the road on their path towards the top.
&ldquo;One race does not define an athlete,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;In two, three years, he&rsquo;ll be big. Most people have not seen what Kamar can do. The workouts he&rsquo;s done, you can really appreciate the talent. If you can get it right in one race, like the Olympic trials, you see what he has to offer. For now it&rsquo;s the season for Jakob (Ingebrigtsen) but in two or three years, his time will come.&rdquo;
Etiang is very much a student of the sport, and has countless videos of top-level 1500m races saved on his phone. &ldquo;I have downloaded all of them and before I go to sleep I watch one or two clips,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s motivating me.&rdquo;
When he looks to the future, he thinks of not just becoming the fastest athlete of his generation, but the fastest of any generation.
&ldquo;My biggest dream is to set this world record at 1500m and 3000m,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I want to assure you, in two or three years, I&rsquo;ll be the one.&rdquo;
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

Ask Kamar Etiang his goals for the future and the Kenyan 18-year-old isn’t shy about making a bold prediction.

Etiang aims high after breakthrough year

Faith Kipyegon was given the ultimate accolade by her closest rival after winning her second consecutive Olympic 1500m crown in Tokyo tonight.
Asked about Kipyegon&rsquo;s standing, silver medallist Laura Muir did not hesitate to declare: &ldquo;She's the greatest of all time&rdquo;.
&ldquo;She doesn't get enough credit," Muir added. "She's won everything there is. I've got a lot of respect for her and I'm very, very happy to see her winning gold and I'm honoured to be behind her in that race."
Three years after giving birth to her first child, Kipyegon ran the fastest women&rsquo;s 1500m ever seen in the Olympic arena to retain the title she first won in Rio five years ago. She is the first athlete to win back-to-back Olympic 1500m titles since Sebastian Coe in 1980-84.
Olympic champion in 2016 and world champion in 2017, Kipyegon had her daughter Alyn in 2018 and returned to training just eight months before the World Championships in Doha in 2019, yet still managed to set a personal best as she finished second to Sifan Hassan that year.
With two more years of training behind her, Kipyegon had clearly found an extra gear leading into the Olympic Games. She defeated Hassan convincingly in her last race before Tokyo, the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco last month, and repeated that feat in the Olympic stadium.
Olympic 5000m champion Hassan, with two 5000m races and two 1500m races already in her legs, made the brave decision to take the lead after just 300m and try to blunt Kipyegon&rsquo;s superior finishing speed.
Hassan led the race for 1000m, but Kipyegon was perched on her shoulder the whole way, just waiting to strike, which she did with lethal effect with 250m to go.
The Kenyan, who trains in coach Patrick Sang&rsquo;s camp with Eliud Kipchoge, gapped Hassan in moments and sprinted away to claim victory in an Olympic record of 3:53.11.
"I knew Sifan Hassan is a very strong athlete, and I knew she would go fast because she wanted the gold," Kipyegon said. &ldquo;I knew she was going to lead very quickly. I really wanted to follow her and see what would happen at the finish line."&nbsp;
She said she was more motivated by thoughts of her daughter than of making history.
"Once I crossed the finish line, it was a very emotional moment for me," she said. &ldquo;I thought about my daughter who I left behind at home. She wanted me to bring home a gold medal, and I am so happy and excited I did that."&nbsp;
European champion Muir, for so long a contender who could not quite find a place on a global podium, broke through to win the silver medal in a national record of 3:54.50, after passing the tiring Hassan with 150m to go.
It is as much a medal for persistence as excellence.
&ldquo;It feels very, very good - just relieved to have finally won a medal and for it to be an Olympic silver is amazing," she said.
&ldquo;Since Rio (Olympic Games 2016) it&rsquo;s been five years of wanting this medal and missing every single time just by a little bit. And finally to come away with this medal is great. It's just so surreal. So, so surreal."
Hassan&rsquo;s quest to win an unprecedented distance treble over 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m ended with the bronze medal in this race (3:55.86) but she may yet become a dual gold medallist in tomorrow night&rsquo;s 10,000m final.
She said she could not have done more tonight and was already turning her attention to the 10,000m.
"For now, it is all about taking enough rest in order to be able to race again tomorrow," she said. "I am happy with how it all goes, but I feel stressed every day. There is nothing else to do but to focus on Saturday's race. I am focusing on that already. The body is very tired (but) I need it for tomorrow."&nbsp;
She admitted she was still feeling the after-effects of the moment when she fell in the 1500m heats and had to chase down the pack to qualify for the next round.
&ldquo;Ever since that moment I feel super tired," she said. &ldquo;The last couple of days have been very stressful, and it has taken lots of energy from me."&nbsp;
The challenge will not be any easier in the 10,000m, where she will face the woman who took her world record in June, Ethiopia&rsquo;s Letesenbet Gidey.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
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<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">WOMEN'S 1500m MEDALLISTS</td>
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<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪 KEN</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">3:53.11 OR</td>
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<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Laura Muir 🇬🇧 GBR</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">3:54.50 NR</td>
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<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">3:55.86</td>
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<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/results/women/1500-metres/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
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&nbsp;

Faith Kipyegon was given the ultimate accolade by her closest rival after winning her second consecutive Olympic 1500m crown in Tokyo tonight.