2015 TRACK & FIELD NEWS
MEN’S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Eaton Leads An American 1-2

For the first time since ’07 (Tyson Gay & Jeremy Wariner), Team USA claimed the top 2 spots in T&FN’s annual Athlete Of The Year voting, Ashton Eaton scoring an easy win over Christian Taylor.

Eaton’s World Record in the decathlon was the deciding factor as he picked up 22 votes for No. 1 from our 36-member international panel of experts. Triple jump leader Taylor had 10 No. 1s, with British distanceman Mo Farah getting 2 and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt & Polish hammer thrower PaweÅ‚ Fajdek 1 apiece.

Eaton’s margin of victory would have been even bigger had not two voters taken the stance that his contesting only a single decathlon didn’t constitute a “full season” and didn’t deserve a place in the Top 10, despite the magnitude of his WR win in Beijing.

Eaton becomes the first decathlete to win our AOY crown since Bill Toomey way back in ’69. Since then, there have been two runners-up: Bruce Jenner in ’76 and Daley Thompson in ’82.

Overall, 16 men received votes in our panel’s voting.

Here’s the Top 10 (with events in which they made the Top 10 in our by-event World Rankings):

Click here to read the Top Ten: http://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2693

Editor’s Note: Ashton Eaton was annointed AOY by the bible of the sport for 2015. They were right. No disagreement here. Christian Taylor is numero deux. Agreed. These are two of the most brilliant athletes of the year. Having seen both compete all season, I have to concur. And of course, I sure hope our dear readers are cutting back on a couple six packs of Dos Equis to purchase a TFN subscription?

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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