With just 12 days to go until the World Athletics Awards 2020, the names of the five finalists for the Male World Athlete of the Year 2020 have been confirmed by the World Athletics Council.
Ugandan long-distance runner Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei finally made the cut for his tremendous achievements this year along four others for the top accolade.
Cheptegei broke world records at 5000m (12:35.36), 10,000m (26:11.00) and 5km on the roads (12:51) and came fourth at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships on his debut over the distance.
In spite of the many challenges presented by the global Covid-19 pandemic this year, the five athletes, who represent five countries and three area associations, have excelled, producing brilliant performances across nearly all athletics disciplines in 2020.
The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2020 to be staged as a virtual event on Saturday 5th December.
A three-way voting process determined the finalists. The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans voted online via our social media platforms. The Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result.
The male finalists are:
Joshua Cheptegei, Uganda: Broke world records at 5000m (12:35.36), 10,000m (26:11.00) and 5km on the roads (12:51) and was fourth at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships on his debut over the distance.
Ryan Crouser, USA: Undefeated in 10 shot put competitions, his 22.91m world-leading performance moved him to equal third on the world all-time list.
Mondo Duplantis, Sweden: Broke the world record in the pole vault twice (6.17m and 6.18m) and produced the highest outdoor vault of all time (6.15m), undefeated in 16 competitions.
Johannes Vetter, Germany: Won eight of his nine javelin competitions, threw a world-leading 97.76m, the second farthest throw in history
Karsten Warholm, Norway: Ran a world-leading 46.87 in the 400m hurdles, the second fastest performance in history, undefeated in nine 400m/400m hurdles races and set world best of 33.78 in 300m hurdles.
