- Kipchoge will battle it out with other seasoned athletes for the prestigious award
- Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei is also among the nominees for the male athlete of the year award
- At the Tokyo Olympics, Kipchoge, who is regarded as the greatest marathoner of all time, successfully defended his title by clinching gold at the men's marathon
Marathon World record holder and double Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge has been nominated by World Athletics for the Male Athlete of the Year award.
Source: Getty Images
World Athletics released a list of the official nominees on Thursday, October 21 and some big names made the cut including Uganda’s Olympic gold medalist in the men’s 5000m Joshua Cheptegei.
Other nominees include:
Ryan Crouser (American shot putter and discus thrower)
Mondo Duplantis - Swedish–American pole vaulter and the current world indoor record holder
Jakob Ingebrigtsen Norwegian middle-distance runner. Won gold at the 1500m in the Olympics
Pedro Pichardo Cuban-born Portuguese triple jumper and current Olympic champion
Daniel Stahl - Swedish athlete specialising in the discus throw
Miltiadis Tentoglou - Greek Long jump athlete who won gold at Tokyo 2020
Damian Warner Canadian track and field athlete specializing in decathlon. He is a 2020 Olympic champion and is set to be inducted to Canada’s Walk of fame
Karsten Warholm - Norwegian athlete specializing in 400m hurdles. He won gold at the men’s 400m hurdles final at Tokyo 2020.
Kipchoge's near-perfect 2021
While all the nominees in the male category are exemplary athletes in their own rights, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge stands a solid chance of winning the award for several reasons.
Not only did he defend his Olympic title by winning gold in the men’s marathon, he became only the third man in history to win consecutive Olympic marathon titles.
That, and also the fact that he is regarded as the greatest marathoner of all time.
His feat at the Tokyo Olympics was his fourth Olympic medal overall and after his win, he confidently declared that he had “fulfilled the legacy by winning the marathon for the second time”.
The voting process officially began on Thursday, with the World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family set to cast their votes by email.
For fans, they will be able to vote via the World Athletics social media platforms either by 'liking' a graphic of their favourite athlete or via a retweet on Twitter.
Kipchoge, the humble man
Part of the reason Kipchoge stands a great chance of winning the award is his extremely likeable personality.
Only recently, he excited fans after he was spotted making chapatis in the company of friends.
