Elaine on shortlist for Female Athlete of the Year award
Jamaica’s Olympic Games triple gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah is in line for more postseason honours after she was shortlisted by World Athletics for the Female Athlete of the Year award last week.
Thompson-Herah — who successfully defended her sprint double title from Rio in 2016 and set national records of 10.54 seconds and 21.53 seconds, respectively — is seeking her first Athlete of the Year award and would join compatriots Merlene Ottey and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce as other Jamaican women to have copped the prestigious award.
The list of five women was announced last week from which the winner will be declared on December 1 in a ceremony that will be held virtually.
All five women named were gold medal winners at the recent Tokyo Olympic Games and the list includes Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who won gold medals in the Olympic 5000m and 10,000m, bronze in the Olympic 1500m and broke the world record in the 10,000m; Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, who won the Olympic 1500m; Sydney McLaughlin of the USA, who set the world record a second time while winning the Olympic 400m hurdles and was part of the American gold medal winning 4x400m relays; and world indoor and outdoor triple jump record holder and Olympic champion Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela.
The men’s shortlist was announced on Monday and included Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, Ryan Crouser of the USA, Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, and Karsten Warholm of Norway.
— Paul Reid