Finalists announced for Female World Athlete of the Year 2020, by World Athletics

Letesenbet Gidey, photo by Dan Vernon/ NN running team

Sian Hassan, photo by Dan Vernon/ NN running team

Peres Jepchirchir, photo by Dan Vernon/ World Athletics

Yulimar Rojas, photo by Shanghai.Diamond League

Elaine Thompson-Herah, photo by Watchathletics.com

The Finalists announced for Female World Athlete of the Year 2020, are Letesenbet Gidey, (Ethiopia), Sifan Hassan, (Netherlands), Peres Jepchirchir, (Kenya), Yulimar Rojas, (Venezuela) and Elaine Thompson-Herah, (Jamaica).

With just 11 days to go until the World Athletics Awards 2020, the names of the five finalists for the Female World Athlete of the Year 2020 have been confirmed.

In spite of the many challenges presented by the global Covid-19 pandemic this year, the five athletes, who represent five countries and four area associations, have excelled, producing brilliant performances across a range of athletics disciplines in 2020.

The finalists are (in alphabetical order):

Letesenbet Gidey, Ethiopia
– set a world record of 14:06.62 over 5000m
– was second in the 5000m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco

Sifan Hassan, Netherlands
– set a world record of 18,930m in the one hour run
– set a European record of 29:36.67 over 10,000m, the fourth fastest performance in history

Peres Jepchirchir, Kenya
– won the world half marathon title
– twice broke the world half marathon record for a women-only race (1:05:34 and 1:05:16)

Yulimar Rojas, Venezuela
– undefeated in four triple jump competitions indoors and outdoors
– broke the world indoor triple jump record with 15.43m

Elaine Thompson-Herah, Jamaica
– undefeated in seven 100m races
– ran world-leading 10.85 over 100m

The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2020 to be staged as a virtual event on Saturday 5 December and streamed live on the World Athletics YouTube channel, its Facebook page and via Twitter.

Voting procedure for 2020 World Athletes of the Year

A three-way voting process determined the finalists.

The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans voted online via our social media platforms. The Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result.

Voting for the Female World Athlete of the Year closed on 15 November.

World Athletics