Obiri, Kosgei, Chepkoech make IAAF award shortlist

Kenya's Hellen Obiri celebrates winning the Women's 5000m final at the 2019 IAAF Athletics World Championships at the Khalifa International stadium in Doha on October 5, 2019. PHOTO | MUSTAFA ABUMUNES | AFP

By  SAMUEL GACHARIRA

What you need to know:

  • Kosgei leads a strong Kenyan cast that will be bidding to bring the gong home for the first time since inception of the awards in 1988
  • Obiri, who won world cross-country title in Aarhus in March, capped a fantastic season by claiming the 5000m gold in Doha in a Championship Record time of 14:26.72
  • The Kenyan trio will face stiff competition from Ethiopian-born Dutch star Sifan Hassan who won 1500m and 10,000m titles in world-leading times of 3:51.95 and 30:17.62 at Doha World Championships

World marathon record holder Brigid Kosgei, World 500m champion Hellen Obiri and World 3000m steeplechase gold medallist Beatrice Chepkoech have been nominated for the IAAF Female Athlete of the Year award.

Kosgei, Obiri and Chepkoech are part of 11 nominees released by world athletics governing body, IAAF, for the annual award which will be decided on November 23 in Monaco, France.

Kosgei - fresh from setting a new world record time of two hours, 14 minutes and four seconds in Sunday's Chicago Marathon - leads a strong Kenyan cast that will be bidding to bring the gong home for the first time since inception of the awards in 1988. In addition to her Chicago success, Kosgei won the London Marathon in April and ran the fastest half marathon in history during the Great North run clocking 1:04:28.

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On the other hand, Chepkoech - who made the final shortlist of last year - won the world 3000m steeplechase title in Doha, Qatar in Championship Record time of 8:57.84. She also won the Diamond League title having won seven of eight races she entered.

Obiri, who won world cross-country title in Aarhus in March, capped a fantastic season by claiming the 5000m gold in Doha in a Championship Record time of 14:26.72. She also ran a world-leading 14:20.36 for 5000m in the London Diamond League.

The Kenyan trio will face stiff competition from Ethiopian-born Dutch star Sifan Hassan who won 1500m and 10,000m titles in world-leading times of 3:51.95 and 30:17.62 at Doha World Championships. She also won Diamond League 1500m and 5000m titles besides breaking world mile record with 4:12.33 in Monaco.

Other nominees are Mariya Lasitskene, Malaika Mihambo, Dalilah Muhammad, Salwa Eid Naser, Yulimar Rojas, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.

The IAAF Council and the IAAF Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the IAAF's social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram this week; a 'like' on Facebook and Instagram or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.

The IAAF Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the IAAF Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.

Voting for the Female World Athlete of the Year closes on November 5. At the conclusion of the voting process, five men and five women finalists will be announced by the IAAF.

Additional reporting by IAAF

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