Three Africans Are Among The Athletes Of The Year

Kenyan middle-distance runner Faith Kipyegon and American sprinter Noah Lyles were among the six "Athletes of the Year" honoured in Monaco on Monday evening by the International Athletics Federation (World Athletics), which also paid attention to marathon records achieved this season.

World Athletics generally recognises one man and one woman "Athlete of the Year," but this year they opted to hand out six prizes, one for each of their efforts on the track, the road, and in field events.

In 2023, Faith Kipyegon, 29, won the title of "track" champion after setting three world records in the following events: the 1,500 m (3 minutes 49 sec 11), mile (4:07.64), and 5,000 m (14:05.20, subsequently broken).

American Noah Lyles,  the fastest man in the world this year was also honoured in the "track" category after dominating world sprinting by winning the 100 m, 200 m and 4x100 m in Budapest.

The sprinter said that the 100 m was the most significant since he had always knew he was the fastest man on the earth, but no one would believe him without this title.

Next year, the 26-year-old American hopes to add Olympic gold to his collection after winning six world championships and breaking the half-lap world mark (19.19 seconds for Usain Bolt against a personal best of 19.31).

The Swedish-American Armand Gustav "Mondo" Duplantis who improved his pole vault world record to 6.23 m this year, and Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela, world champion and world record holder in the triple leap (15m74 in 2022), were crowned in the 'field event' category.

Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum and Ethiopian Tigst Assefa were recognised in the "road" category for their marathon world records of 2:00:35 and 2:11:53, respectively.

Kiptum plans to go even faster and get closer to the legendary two-hour barrier at the Rotterdam marathon (Netherlands) in April.