Faith Kipyegon in final shortlist for World Athletics award

Faith Kipyegon will look to become the first Kenyan woman to win the World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year award after she made the final shortlist for the 2021 award.

Kipyegon the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games 1500m gold winner will slug it out with 4 other nominess ahead of the awards ceremony scheduled for December.

Three months ago, Kipyegon made another long stride to the annals of history by becoming the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in 1500m since Russian Tatyana Kazankina in 1976 and 1980.

Kipyegon’s profile in the sport rose quickly, chalking up victories at both the world youth and world junior 1500m in back-to-back seasons. Her first time to win the world junior title in Barcelona was almost a decade ago (2011 and 2012).

Kipyegon will face off with her rival and 1,500m Tokyo Olympic Games bronze winner dutch runner Sifan Hassan.

Sifan grabbed a double at the Tokyo games winning the 5,000m and the 10,000m races and also broke the world 10,000m record.

Voting procedure for 2021 World Athletes of the Year

A three-way voting process determined the finalists.

The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans voted online via the World Athletics social media platforms.

The World Athletics Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result.

Voting closed on 6 November. The winner will be announced virtually on December 1.