Countdown
With just seven days to go before voting for the 2016 World Athletes of the Year concludes, here’s another look at this year's men’s and women’s longlist candidates, focusing today on those who excelled in the sprints and hurdles.
Usain Bolt (JAM) successfully defended his Olympic titles in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay and ended the season unbeaten at all distances, including preliminaries. The 30-year-old clocked 9.81 and 19.78 season's bests.
Omar McLeod (JAM) emerged as the world’s top sprint hurdler, winning both the Olympic title and world indoor gold in the 60m hurdles events, with world leads indoors (7.41 60m hurdles) and out (12.98). The 22-year-old produced six of the eight fastest performances outdoors and became the first sub-13-second 110m hurdler to run faster than 10 seconds for the flat 100m.
Kendra Harrison (USA) meanwhile broke the 28-year-old world record in the 100m hurdles with 12.20 on her way to becoming the event’s Diamond Race winner. Harrison, 24, won 10 out of 11 finals outdoors. And produced eight of the year’s nine fastest performances.
Elaine Thompson (JAM) emerged as the world’s premiere sprinter, winning Olympic titles at both 100m and 200m, and ending the season with 10.70 and 21.78 world leads, respectively. The 24-year-old also won Olympic 4x100m silver and world indoor 60m bronze.
Wayde van Niekerk (RSA) won the Olympic 400m title in spectacular fashion, running a 43.03 world record. The 24-year-old finished the season unbeaten across three events and also claimed African titles at 200m and 4x100m. His also had season's best of 9.98A and 20.02.
The winners will be announced at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2016 in Monaco on Friday 2 December.
The Voting Procedure for the 2016 World Athletes of the Year:
A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.
The IAAF Council and the IAAF Family* will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the IAAF's social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee have been posted on the IAAF's Facebook and Twitter accounts; a 'like' or 'favourite' will count as one vote.
The IAAF Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the IAAF Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.
Voting closes on 1 November. At the conclusion of the voting process, three men and three women finalists will be announced by the IAAF.
The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live on stage at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2016.
IAAF
* IAAF Family: IAAF member federations, IAAF Committee members, IAAF meeting directors, IAAF athlete ambassadors, athletes’ representatives, top athletes, members of the international press, IAAF staff members and the IAAF’s official partners.
