10) Djamel Sedjati, Algeria (800m)

Olympic bronze medallist; SB 1:41.46

Prior to the Olympics, Djamel Sedjati looked like an odds-on favorite for gold, with his incredible ability to kick off a 1:41-type pace. He ran the fourth, fifth and sixth fastest times in the world this year, which are all within the top fifteen times in history. In the end, the Olympic gold eluded him, and the explosion of fast times in the 800m meant he was not the fastest in the world this year either, so in spite of all his achievements in 2024, there were plenty of others who arguably had better seasons.

9) Grant Fisher, USA (5000m, 10,000m)

Olympic bronze medallist 5000m and 10,000m; 5000m SB 12:51.84; 10,000m SB 26:43.46

Grant Fisher makes it onto this list as the only man to get two distance medals on the track at the Olympics, a feat not even Jakob Ingebrigtsen could manage. He was very intentional about his racing and performances, taking the double victory at the USA Olympic Trials, which included his first 10,000m national title. Outside of those championships, he raced somewhat sparingly with the Olympic qualifying standards and major championships in mind, so didn’t have much more in terms of victories on the circuit or fast times, but the two bronze medals and national titles really were a brilliant achievement given the depth of people running fast times across the distance events.

8) Leo Neugebauer, Germany (Decathlon)

NCAA champion; Olympic silver medallist; SB 8,961 pts

Leo Neugebauer’s three decathlons this year were all in the top ten marks of the year. No other athlete had more than one mark in the top ten, so this is hugely impressive consistency in an event where athletes compete infrequently, and there is always a risk of something going wrong. His top mark of 8,961 points at the NCAA DI Championships was the world lead and is the eighth best mark in history. The only thing that prevents him from being a little higher up this list is that he didn’t pick up that Olympic gold medal, particularly in a field where some of the top contenders faltered.

7) Mykolas Alekna, Lithuania (Discus)

Olympic silver medallist; European bronze; SB 74.35m (WR)

Mykolas Alekna had an incredible start to the season, breaking the 38-year-old world record with a huge 74.35m throw (albeit thrown in a wind tunnel in Ramona), and he backed up these performances with six of the top ten marks in the world across the course of the season. He also broke his father’s long standing Olympic record by throwing 69.97m in Paris, and was just pipped for gold by a last-round 70.00m throw from Roje Stona. However, this discus is an incredibly competitive and variable event, and after winning eight of his first nine competitions, he struggled a bit down the homestretch at the European Championships where he came away with bronze, the Diamond League final, and the Olympics, which means he doesn’t quite get ahead of Ryan Crouser on this list.

6) Ryan Crouser, USA (Shot Put)

Olympic gold medallist; World Indoor gold; SB 22.93m

Ryan Crouser’s season was excellent by any normal standard, but perhaps not by his own extremely high bar. Walking away with Olympic and World Indoor gold medals as well as the U.S. title, and winning eight out of eleven competitions this year is most definitely a good return. He also put together multiple series where every throw was over 22 meters. However, hampered by injury, he was unable to break the 23m mark during the seaso, and did not have any of the top three throws in the world this year, and also only three of the top ten (by contrast, in 2023 he had all of the top three throws, and seven of the top ten). His performances still put him fairly high up on this list given his solid level of consistency, and he also gets bonus points for coaching the Olympic gold medallist in the discus, Roje Stona.

5) Cole Hocker, USA (1500m, 5000m)

Olympic gold medallist 1500m; World Indoor silver 1500m; 1500m SB 3:27.65; 5000m SB 12:58.82

It may seem odd that the Olympic gold medallist is the furthest down this list of the 1500m runners being included, but when versatility across events and season-long racing excellence are considered, Hocker’s limited focus kept him from moving higher. At World Indoors, Hocker came away with silver– but was arguably entering as the favorite, so this achievement in my view does not rank as highly as it might otherwise. His performances outside of championships were consistent (his three post Olympic Diamond League races were all sub-3:31, a barrier he’d only broken once before this year) but did not include any significant victories. But winning Olympic gold against a stellar field in a championship-record 3:27.65 is the crowning achievement of a breakthrough season where he stayed consistently healthy and improved his strength, running a sub 13 minute 5000m, which likely gave him the ability to keep up in the faster races and utilize his lethal kick to its greatest effect.

4) Josh Kerr, Great Britain (1500m, 3000m)

Olympic silver medallist 1500m; World Indoor Champion 3000m; 1500m SB 3:26.73; 3000m SB 7:17.55

Josh Kerr managed to definitively back up his 1500m gold from 2023 with strong performances across a carefully-selected season of races. He ran a world indoor best of 8:00.67 at the Millrose Games, before beating the likes of Selemon Barega to World Indoor gold over 3000m. Outdoors at the Pre Classic, he won the Bowerman mile over all his biggest rivals in the tenth fastest time in history with 3:45.34 (taking down Steve Cram’s 39 year old British record), followed by the silver at the Olympics also in a new British record, taking down Mo Farah’s 3:28.81 from 2013. He rounded out the season with the 5th Avenue Mile in New York where he ran a crazy 3.44.3 and broke the longstanding course record whilst crushing a talented field.

3) Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Norway (1500m, 3000m, 5000m)

Olympic gold medallist 5000m; European Champion 5000m & 1500m; 1500m SB 3:26.73; 3000m SB 7:17.55 (WR); 5000m SB 13:13.66

Given Jakob’s ongoing preoccupation with winning 1500m gold, and his failure to achieve that goal this year, it may seem that he would not deserve to be quite so far up this list. However, it is easy to forget how good his season actually was. He started by running the eleventh fastest time in history in the mile, becoming only the second person to dip under 3:46 twice, followed by double gold over 1500m and 5000m at the European Championships. In the run-up to the Olympics, he did the same double at the Norwegian championships, then ran the sixth fastest time in history of 3:26.73 over 1500m to become the first to run under 3:27 since Asbel Kiprop in 2015.

His 3:28.24 in the Olympic final was the fastest fourth place finish in history, and he did, after all, win the 5000m gold a few days later. Post Olympics he delivered perhaps the most remarkable performance of his season, breaking Daniel Komen’s nearly 28 year old world record over 3000m by a margin of over three seconds, to run 7:17.55.

2) Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Kenya (800m)

Olympic gold medallist; SB 1:41.11

Wanyonyi has been the main driving force in leading the 800m to unprecedented heights in 2024. At the start of the year, there had only ever been 15 clockings under 1:42 in history. In 2024 there were another 12, of which Wanyonyi had four. He started the runaway train with a 1.41.70 in Kenya in June, and only Djamel Sedjati has managed to dip under 1:42 without him in the race. He ran the fourth and fifth fastest times in history, and was only 0.2 seconds away from David Rudisha’s magical world record in Lausanne in late August. We never thought we would ever see a race even close to the perfection of that 2012 Olympic final, but in Paris he led four men under 1:42 in a competitive and hugely compelling race. He only doesn’t quite top this list as he did lose two of eight 800m finals he ran in 2024.