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Qatar’s Barshim shortlisted for IAAF’s 2017 World Athlete of the Year Award

November 15,2024
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06-November-2017

Qatar’s Barshim shortlisted for IAAF’s 2017 World Athlete of the Year Award

DOHA, November 07, 2017- Qatar's world champion high jumper and Rio Olympics silver medalist Mutaz Essa Barshim on Monday expectedly made the shortlist for the IAAF's World Athlete of the Year 2017 award along with Britain's long distance star Mo Farah, South Africa's 400m champion Wayde Van Niekerk.

One of this trio will succeed retired Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt, the current holder of the accolade. The winners will be announced at the IAAF Athletics Awards in Monaco on November 24.

The men's and women's finalists were whittled down from an original list of 10 by a vote of IAAF council members, fans and fellow athletes. Last Thursday Barshim was honoured as Asia Best 2017 Athlete by the Association of National Olympic Committees in Prague.

On August 13, 2017, Barshim won the world high jump title when he completed a faultless series at the World Championships in London culminating in a winning leap of 2.35 metres.

Barshim's mark of 2.43m is the second-highest in world history after Cuban Javier Sotomayor's 2.45m set 24 years ago.

At the Olympic Stadium in London, Barshim was a class apart, having qualified without a fail and he went through to the final never looking remotely close to dislodging the bar as he flexed his body into biology-defying shapes.

Mo Farah won the 10,000-meter title and a silver medal in the 5,000 at the world championships in London, while Van Niekerk defended his 400 title and finished second in the 200.

Ethiopia's 10,000m Olympic champion Almaz Ayana is in the running to win a second successive women's world athlete of the year honour. She is up against Greek polevault star Ekaterini Stefanidi and Nafissatou Thiam, Belgium's heptathlon Olympic and world gold medallist.

The women's nominees were Ethiopian distance runner Almaz Ayana, Greek pole vaulter Ekaterini Stefanidi and heptathlon world champion Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium.

The IAAF says the finalists were determined by a"three-way voting process."

Half of the votes came from the IAAF Council, 25 percent from the IAAF member federations and committee members, and the remaining portion from a public vote conducted by social media.