(CMR) Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah has been named Female World Athlete of the Year. Thompson-Herah won both the women's 100m and 200m at Tokyo 2020, setting a new Olympic record of 10.61 seconds in the 100 m. She became the first female athlete to defend her Olympic title across both sprint distances successfully.
Thompson-Herah capped off her Olympic campaign with a gold medal in the 4x100m relay. She then went on to lower her personal best in her first post-Olympic race to 10.54 seconds.
Thompson-Herah was up against four other nominees, including Sifan Hassan. The Dutch distance runner made history in Tokyo, winning gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m events and bronze in the 1,500m.
Hassan became the first-ever athlete to medal in all three of these events at the same Games.
Faith Kipyegon, who set a new Olympic record as she beat Hassan in the 1,500m final, was also nominated.
Making up the shortlist was Sydney McLaughlin of the United States, who won 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay Olympic gold this summer, and Yulimar Rojas, the long jump world record holder.
Rojas became Venezuela's first-ever female Olympic champion when she triumphed at Tokyo 2020.
Over 300,000 votes were cast on social media to determine the Female World Athlete of the Year award winner. The opinion of the World Athletics Council also determined who received the accolade.
Athing Mu of the US received the Female Rising Star Award. The 19-year-old earned two Olympic gold medals at Tokyo 2020, triumphing in the 800m and 4x400m.
India's Anju Bobby George, a former long jump athlete, was named Woman of the Year. This was for her efforts in advancing athletics in her home country.
Norwegian Karsten Warholm is World Male Athlete of the Year. Warholm won the men’s award over fellow Olympic gold medalists Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda, 5000m), Ryan Crouser (the USA, shot put), Mondo Duplantis (Sweden, pole vault), and Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya, marathon).
Warholm twice broke the longest-standing world record among men’s track races set by American Kevin Young, who went 46.78 in the 1992 Olympic final. Warholm lowered it to 46.70 on July 1, then to 45.94 in the Tokyo Olympic final
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