By Victor Kanayo
Nigerian sprint star and World record holder Tobi Amusan is now among five finalists for the Women’s World Athlete of the Year 2022 Award, according to a statement released by the World Athletics on Monday.
The names of the five finalists for Women’s World Athlete of the Year were confirmed as the countdown to the World Athletics Awards 2022 continues.
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.
Amusan dupped Nigerian ‘Queen of Tracks’ is the world 100m hurdles champion, Diamond League, Commonwealth and African 100m hurdles champion and set a world 100m hurdles record of 12.12.
Also shortlisted is Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the world 100m champion after claiming a fifth gold medal in the event in Eugene, Oregon in July. She is also the Diamond League 100m champion and ran a world-leading 10.62 among her record seven sub-10.70 100m races of the season.
Peru’s Kimberly Garcia, the world 20km race walk champion after winning Peru’s first-ever World Athletics Championships medal, also makes the final five. She is the world 35km race walk champion in a South American record. She is also a World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships 20km bronze medallist.
Sydney McLaughlin of the United States of America also cut after an impressive season on the track, where she clinched the world 400m hurdles and 4x400m titles.
She also broke the world 400m hurdles record with 51.41 at the US Championships and further improved the world record to 50.68 to win the world title.
Triple jumper Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela, the world indoor and outdoor champion closes the list. She is also the Diamond League champion and improved her world record to 15.74m in Belgrade.
World Athletics in the statement said a record 1.3 million votes were registered by emails and online voting via the World Athletics social media platforms.
A three-way voting process to determine the finalists for the 2022 World Athletes of the Year was concluded on October 31 and the winner will be announced on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December.
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.
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.
The World Athletes of the Year will be announced on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December, as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022.
