Six athletes have been crowned World Athletes of the Year in Monaco.

2023.12.12

Tigist Assefa, Mondo Duplantis, Kelvin Kiptum, Faith Kipyegon, Noah Lyles and Yulimar Rojas – have been announced as World Athletes of the Year for 2023.

Following the announcement of this year’s Rising Stars, world 3000m steeplechase bronze medallist Faith Cherotich and world 800m silver medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi, the world champions and world record-breakers were the final winners to be revealed as part of the World Athletics Awards 2023 on Monday (11).

The World Athlete of the Year awards this year have been modified in response to input received throughout the voting process. In 2023, several incredible feats were accomplished, including an astounding 23 world records*. When it came to tallying the votes, athletes, fans, and World Athletics Family members all agreed that it was extremely difficult to narrow it down to just one athlete due to the many disciplines and enormous variations in skill sets necessary. As a result, the World Athlete of the Year honors for 2023 have been separated into three event categories: track, field, and out of stadium.

“The depth of talent and the outstanding performances in our sport this year more than justify the expansion of the World Athletics Awards to recognise the accomplishments by these six athletes across a range of disciplines,” Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, said in a statement “Our World Athletes of the Year alone set seven world records in 2023, as well as a slew of world titles and major victories, so it is only fitting that they be recognized as the athletes of the year in their respective fields.”

World Athletes of the Year for 2023

Women’s track: Faith Kipyegon, KEN, 1500m/mile/5000m
Women’s field: Yulimar Rojas, VEN, triple jump
Women’s out of stadia: Tigist Assefa, ETH, marathon
Men’s track: Noah Lyles, USA, 100m/200m
Men’s field: Mondo Duplantis, SWE, pole vault
Men’s out of stadia: Kelvin Kiptum, KEN, marathon

In 2023, Assefa, Duplantis, Kiptum, and Kipyegon all established world records in their respective disciplines, and all six World Athletes of the Year won world titles or major marathons.

The highlight of Assefa’s year came in September, when the Ethiopian 27-year-old ran 2:11:53, breaking the world record by two minutes and 14 seconds and establishing the best single improvement on the mark in 40 years.

She finished over six minutes ahead of her nearest competitor, recording 1:06:20 for the first half and an even quicker 1:05:33 for the second half – a speed that only seven women have beaten in a standalone half marathon this year.

Kiptum also set a world record in a World Athletics Platinum Label road event in October, clocking 2:00:35 in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. The 24-year-old Kenyan became the first athlete to surpass 2:01 in a record-eligible marathon, winning by over three and a half minutes and shaving 34 seconds off Eliud Kipchoge’s previous world record.

Kiptum now boasts three of the seven fastest marathon times in history, having won the TCS London Marathon in April in 2:01:25, only one year after making his marathon debut.

Duplantis increased his global pole vault record both indoors and outdoors in 2023, while also retaining the world title and clearing 6.00m or higher 20 times.

Indoors, the Swedish 24-year-old improved his previous personal best by a millimeter, clearing 6.22m at Clermont-Ferrand. During the outdoor season, he won his second straight global title in Budapest before going on to win his third Wanda Diamond League trophy with a clearing of 6.23m on his first try to break his world record by another millimeter.

Kipyegon broke world records at three different distances during a season in which she also won a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

First, in Florence, the 29-year-old Kenyan improved the world 1500m record to 3:49.11, shaving nearly a full second off the previous best. Just one week later, despite having only run the 5000m twice previously, she broke the world record in that event as well, clocking 14:05.20 in Paris, shaving 1.42 seconds off the previous mark. Her third world record occurred in Monaco, when she set a new mile record by five seconds, clocking 4:07.64. She then won her third senior world 1500m championship and her first world 5000m title in Budapest.

Lyles also won an individual championship double at the World Championships in Budapest, capturing 100m gold and defending his 200m title before competing in the USA’s winning 4x100m relay squad.

The 26-year-old won the 100m in 9.83 seconds, tying him for the season lead, and the 200m in 19.52 seconds. He raced even faster in the Diamond League meeting in London, clocking 19.47 seconds to retain his global 200m lead for the sixth year in a row, during a season in which he was undefeated in six 200m finals.

Rojas won her fourth global outdoor title in Budapest, and the Venezuelan 28-year-old also won her third Diamond League crown in a row.

Despite being in seventh position heading into the last round of the World Championships, the world record-holder kept her calm and flew 15.08m on her final try, putting her eight centimeters ahead. This was her ninth worldwide gold medal. Then, in the Diamond League Final in Eugene, she extended her global lead to 15.35m, barely 39cm short of her personal best.

Faith Cherotich and Emmanuel Wanyonyi, both World U20 gold medalists, made their senior debuts in 2023.

Both Kenyan teens won gold at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on September 23, Cherotich in the 3000m steeplechase and Wanyonyi in the 800m.

Cherotich, who won global U20 bronze in 2021 and gold in 2022, also climbed to second on the world U20 all-time record with a time of 8:59.65 in the Diamond League Final in Eugene, while finishing fourth in the U20 race at the global Cross Country Championships.

As well as his world medal win, 2021 world U20 gold medallist Wanyonyi became Diamond League champion in 2023, claiming the trophy in a PB of 1:42.80. He also won Diamond League races in Rabat, Paris and Xiamen and formed part of Kenya’s victorious world cross country mixed relay team.

@sportzlanka