As anticipation builds for the World Athletics Awards 2024, the finalists for the coveted Athlete of the Year honours have been unveiled. Among the 12 outstanding athletes—six men and six women—three African athletes have been recognized for their record-breaking and historic achievements in 2024.

African Finalists for World Athlete of the Year

Ruth Chepngetich (Kenya)

Set a world marathon record of 2:09:56 at the Chicago Marathon in October, becoming the first woman to finish under 2:10.

Claimed her third Chicago victory and improved her personal best by over four minutes.


Letsile Tebogo (Botswana)

Made history as Botswana’s first-ever Olympic gold medalist with his 200m victory at the Paris Olympics, clocking an African record time of 19.46 seconds.

Secured a silver medal in the men’s 4x400m relay and placed sixth in the 100m final.


Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia)

Won the Olympic marathon in Paris with a record-breaking time of 2:06:26, surpassing the previous Olympic best set in 2008.


Finalists for Athlete of the Year Categories

Women’s Track Athlete of the Year: Julien Alfred (LCA), Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA)

Men’s Track Athlete of the Year: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR), Letsile Tebogo (BOT)

Women’s Field Athlete of the Year: Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR), Nafissatou Thiam (BEL)

Men’s Field Athlete of the Year: Mondo Duplantis (SWE), Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE)

Women’s Out-of-Stadium Athlete of the Year: Ruth Chepngetich (KEN), Sifan Hassan (NED)

Men’s Out-of-Stadium Athlete of the Year: Brian Pintado (ECU), Tamirat Tola (ETH)


Voting and Awards Ceremony

The first round of voting, which combined votes from the World Athletics Council, the World Athletics Family, and the public, determined the top two finalists in each category. A second round of voting, conducted from November 4-10, will decide the overall World Athlete of the Year.

The winners of each category and the overall World Athlete of the Year will be announced during the World Athletics Awards 2024 ceremony on December 1 in Monaco.