Four Kenyan athletes, among them Olympic champions David Rudisha, Eliud Kipchoge, Conselsus Kipruto and Vivian Cheruiyot found their names in the list of 20 nominees for the 2016 World Athletes of the Year Award that will be presented at the IAAF World Gala in Monaco.
Rudisha has once won the award in 2010 on the back of breaking the world record twice that season.
But for Kipchoge and Conseslus, it is their first time to appear in the list.
Cheruiyot is the only Kenyan female in the list of 10 men and 10 women after winning Kenya her first ever women 5000m title in a national record in Brazil that came after winning silver in the 10000m with the third fastest time in history.
The nominees for 2016 World Athlete in the men category are: Usain Bolt of Jamaica, Thiago Braz da Silva of Brazil, Ashton Eaton of U.S.A, Mo Farah of Great Britain.
Others are Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, Conselsus Kipruto and David Rudisha, Omar McLeod of Jamaica, Christian Taylor of U.S.A and Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa.
In the women’s category are Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana, Ruth Beitia of Spain, Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya, Kendra Harrison of U.S.A, Caterine Ibarguen of Colombia and Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet.
Others are Sandra Perkovic of Croatia, Caster Semenya of South Africa, Elaine Thompson of Jamaica and Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk.
“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,” read the statement.
“The IAAF council’s vote will count for 50 per cent of the result, while the IAAF Family’s votes and public votes will each count for 25 per cent of the final result.’’