Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan has made the final shortlist for the Women’s World Athlete of the Year 2022.
The World Athletics announced this via a statement published on its website on Monday, November 14.
Ten athletes were initially nominated for the award in October.
The statement said, “The five athletes, who represent five countries from three area associations, have achieved sensational performances across a range of athletics disciplines in 2022, at the World Athletics Championships Oregon 22, World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world.”
The finalists are Amusan, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce from Jamaica, Kimberly Garcia from Peru, Sydney McLaughlin of the USA, and Yulimar Rojas from Venezuela. They all made it to the final stage following votes from fans.
A three-way voting process determined the finalists. Voting closed on October 31.
The statement added, “The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans logged their decisions online via the World Athletics social media platforms where a record 1.3 million votes were registered.
“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.”
Amusan is the world 100m hurdles champion, Diamond League, Commonwealth and African 100m hurdles champion as well as world record holder in 100m hurdles at 12.12secs.
The other African on the nominees list of 10, Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, who is the current world 1500m champion and Diamond League 1500m champion, did not make the final five.
The organisation noted that the World Athletes of the Year would be announced on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December, as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022.
