A total of 10 athletes are in the running for world athlete of the year honours

Sifan Hassan is among the five finalists for the female world athlete of the year award, while Karsten Warholm has been included in the five-strong shortlist for the male honour in the World Athletics Awards.

The winners will be announced at the live-streamed virtual awards event on December 5.

Hassan, who recorded a world record distance of 18,930m in the one-hour run and broke the European 10,000m record with 29:36.67, is joined by world 5000m record-breaker Letesenbet Gidey, world half-marathon champion and record-breaker Peres Jepchirchir, world indoor triple jump record-breaker Yulimar Rojas and 100m world-leader Elaine Thompson-Herah in the female list.

Warholm ran a world-leading 46.87 in the 400m hurdles and was unbeaten in that event in 2020 and he is joined by fellow male award finalists Joshua Cheptegei, who broke three world records throughout the year – running 12:51 for a road 5km, 12:35.36 for 5000m on the track and 26:11.00 for 10,000m on the track – and shot put star Ryan Crouser, plus world pole vault record-breaker Mondo Duplantis and javelin star Johannes Vetter.

A three-way voting process determined the finalists, with the World Athletics Council’s votes counting for 50% of the result and the World Athletics Family and public votes each counting for 25% of the final result.

AW readers have also been voting for their athletes of the year in the AW Awards, with the winners to be announced in the December magazine and online.