The track and field season has ended, and all the athletes are now girding up for the upcoming season. The only thing all the enthusiasts are waiting for this year is the Athletics Awards. The World Athletics recently took the entire community by surprise by announcing the five finalists for Women’s World Athlete of the Year 2023.

After this, the countdown to the World Athletics Awards 2023 has begun and the admirers cannot wait to witness the results. All the athletes nominated for various criteria in this event have been considered because of their stellar skills and unmatchable accomplishments. The track community is now on their toes to witness which athlete is declared the best this year.

The finalists for the Women’s World Athlete of the Year 

The World Athletics took to its Instagram account to announce the five finalists of the women’s World Athlete of the Year. These five athletes who are selected represent five different countries and have broken records, won titles, and proved their worth in various 2023 events.

Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa, the Netherlands’s Femke Bol, Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon, and the fifth is Yulimar Rojas representing Venezuela have made it to the top. These five athletes have been confirmed for the award from the 11 names that were nominated for the title.

Tigist Assefa this year was the Berlin Marathon winner, and with this, she also created a World marathon record. On the 24th of September, she competed at the Berlin Marathon where she set a new female world record by clocking a time of 2 hours 11 minutes and 53 seconds. Meanwhile, Femke Bol made it into this category because of her becoming the World 400m hurdles champion. With this, she also created a World Indoor 400m record this year.

The Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson made it into the finals of the Athletics Award because of her consistently stupendous performances. She became the World 200m champion and nabbed silver in the 100m. She also bagged the title of Diamond League 100m and 200m champion. The fourth finalist representing Kenya is Faith Kipyegon. This year she attained the title of World 1500m and 5000m champion and also created records at 1500m, mile and 5000m. She set a world record in the 1500m of 3:49.11 on the 2nd of June 2023. She is the first woman to break the 3:50 barrier in this realm. The fifth finalist representing Venezuela is Yulimar Rojas. This year, she grabbed the World Champion and Diamond League Champion title in Triple Jump.

The voting system to select the track and field winners at the World Athletics Awards 

The votes are cast by the World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family. Along with them, the fans cast their votes as well. The only difference here is that the Council and the family cast their vote through email and the fans were asked to give their decisions online through the World Athletics social media platforms.

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Around 2 million votes were registered for the awards. The voting lines closed on the 28th of December 2023 and the final results will be announced on the World Athletics platform on the 11th of December.

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