World Athletics on Monday named Jamaican Olympian, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce among five finalists for Women’s World Athlete of the Year 2022 that will be announced in early December.
“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 Oregon22, World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world,” said World Athletics in a statement.
The finalists are (in alphabetical order): Tobi Amusan, Nigeria – World 100m hurdles champion; Diamond League, Commonwealth and African 100m hurdles champion; set a world 100m hurdles record of 12.12.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jamaica – World 100m champion, claiming a fifth gold medal in the event; Diamond League 100m champion; and ran a world-leading 10.62 among her record seven sub-10.70 100m races of the season.
Kimberly Garcia, Peru – World 20km race walk champion; winning Peru’s first ever World Athletics Championships medal; World 35km race walk champion in a South American record to complete a race walk double; World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships 20km bronze medalist.
Sydney McLaughlin, USA – World 400m hurdles and 4x400m champion; broke the world 400m hurdles record with 51.41 at the US Championships; further improved the world record to 50.68 to win the world title.
Yulimar Rojas, VEN – World indoor and outdoor triple jump champion; Diamond League triple jump champion; improved her world record to 15.74m in Belgrade.
World Athletics said a three-way voting process determined the finalists.
“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,” World Athletics said.
It said the World Athletics Council’s vote counted for 50 percent of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25 percent of the final result. Voting closed on Oct. 31.
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.
