Despite winning Olympic gold in the 100m, Noah Lyles is out of contention for the World Athlete of the Year award.
On Monday, World Athletics announced the finalists for the award, excluding Lyles from the top two male track athletes.
The finalists for Male Track Athlete of the Year are Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway and Letsile Tebogo from Botswana, as announced on the organisation’s official ‘X’ handle (formerly Twitter). The winner is set to be revealed on December 1.
Tebogo and Ingebrigtsen emerged as the standout finalists, while Lyles, who narrowly secured the 100m gold in Paris by just five-thousandths of a second against Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, is notably absent from this year’s finalists.
His exclusion indicates a shift in focus, with Tebogo gaining momentum as a strong contender for the title.
Lyles, who is an enduring figure in American track with multiple world titles, now faces rising competition from emerging talents like Tebogo.
Tebogo’s accomplishments are fueling debates over who deserves the top accolade in 2024.
Known for his intensity and passion on the track, he quickly won fans over with his raw energy, which feels different from Lyles’ established and polished legacy.
Lyles’ career has been marked by record-breaking achievements, but Tebogo’s quick rise represents fresh energy that’s appealing to those eager for new representation on the global stage.
Many now wonder if Tebogo’s success signals a changing era, with fans eagerly rallying behind him on social media in anticipation of the World Athletics Awards.
In the women’s track category, Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred from St Lucia is one of two finalists.
She will compete against American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who won her second consecutive Olympic title in the 400m hurdles, setting a new world record in the process.
World Athletics stated that the top two finalists in each category—track, field, and out-of-stadium—were determined through an initial round of voting by the World Athletics Council, sport dignitaries known as the “World Athletics Family,” and public votes on social media.
This year, a final fan vote, open from Monday until November 10, will contribute to selecting the World Athlete of the Year.
In the field events, men’s pole vault Olympic champion and world record holder Mondo Duplantis is the favorite for the men’s award, facing off against Greek long jump gold medalist Miltiadis Tentoglou.
For the women, Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who recently broke a 37-year-old world record with a 2.10m jump, will compete with Belgian three-time Olympic heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam.
In the out-of-stadium category, world marathon record holder Ruth Chepngetich from Kenya will go head-to-head with Dutch Olympic marathon champion Sifan Hassan.
On the men’s side, Ecuadorian 20km race walk gold medalist Brian Pintado will challenge Ethiopia’s Olympic marathon champion Tamirat Tola.
Facebook Comments