By Chris Chavez
December 11, 2023
World Athletics split its World Athlete of the Year award into three categories to honor six standout athletes in 2023 – Noah Lyles for men’s track events, Faith Kipyegon for women’s track events, Mondo Duplantis for men’s field events, Yulimar Rojas for women’s field events, Kelvin Kiptum for men’s out-of-stadium events, and Tigist Assefa for women’s out-of-stadium events.
Johnny Zhang / @jzsnapz
Here’s what you need to know:
– World Athletics decided to make the change in response to feedback that it was difficult to limit the voting to one athlete across various disciplines. Since 1988, World Athletics had given the award to just one man and one woman across all events.
– Noah Lyles, who won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m at the world championships, is the first American Male Athlete of the Year since Ashton Eaton in 2015. Lyles also finished the year as the world leader in the 200m and tied for the world lead in the men’s 100m.
– Mondo Duplantis (6.23m in the pole vault) and Kelvin Kiptum (2:00:35 marathon) both set world records in 2023.
– Faith Kipyegon was a clear favorite for the award after setting world records in the 1500m, mile and 5000m. She also won the 1500m and 5000m at the world championships. She is the first Kenyan woman to win World Athletics’ Athlete of the Year.
– Tigist Assefa broke the women’s marathon world record in Berlin by two minutes and 14 seconds in 2:11:53.
– Yulimar Rojas was the only women’s field event athlete who was a finalist for Athlete of the Year and earned the honor after winning her fourth world outdoor gold medal and her third consecutive Diamond League title.
Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and is an aspiring sub-five-minute miler.
