The public fan vote for the Women’s and Men’s World Athlete of the Year awards ends at midnight on Monday, October 31.

Jamaica has two entries among the women in what has been described as a highly competitive star-studded line-up. They are the irrepressible Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and the outstanding Shericka Jackson.

Of note is that the fan vote will account for 25 per cent of the final result and thus by voting, Jamaicans at home and in the diaspora can play a significant part in determining the final outcome.

Voting has been ongoing for roughly two weeks since the nominees were announced by World Athletics. To cast a vote, a fan only needs to visit one of World Athletics’ social media platforms – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. A ‘like’ on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube counts as a vote; so too a retweet on Twitter.

Fraser-Pryce made the shortlist after an outstanding year in which the 35-year-old mother won an unprecedented fifth 100m title at the World Athletics Championships in July, in Eugene, Oregon.

She famously led a Jamaican sweep of the podium places with Jackson finishing second in a personal best 10.73 seconds and Elaine Thompson-Herah third in 10.81 seconds.

World Athletics also noted that Fraser-Pryce was the Diamond League 100m champion in 2022 and ran a world-leading 10.62 seconds among her record seven sub-10.70 100m races during the season.

For her part, Jackson was shortlisted for the award for the first time after an outstanding season in which she won the 200m title at the Eugene World Athletics Championships. The MVP-conditioned athlete scorched the track in 21.45 seconds, the second fastest time ever by a woman over the distance. Fraser-Pryce was second in a season’s best 21.81 seconds.

Only the American Florence Griffith-Joyner with 21.34 seconds at the 1988 Seoul Olympics has gone faster than Jackson.

World Athletics noted that Jackson was also the Diamond League champion over 200m and it also pointed to her new personal best of 21.45 seconds.

The other eight women who have been shortlisted for the award are:

Tobi Amusan of Nigeria

– World 100m hurdles champion

– Diamond League, Commonwealth and African 100m hurdles champion

– Set a world 100m hurdles record of 12.12

Chase Ealey, USA

– World shot put champion and world indoor shot put silver medallist

– Diamond League shot put champion

– Threw a world-leading 20.51m

– Kimberly Garcia, Peru

– World 20km race walk champion to win Peru’s first ever World Athletics Championships medal

– World 35km race walk champion in a South American record to complete a race walk double

– World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships 20km bronze medallist

Faith Kipyegon, Kenya

– World 1500m champion

– Diamond League 1500m champion

– Ran a world-leading Kenyan record of 3:50.37, just three tenths of a second off the world record

Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Ukraine

– World indoor high jump champion and world high jump silver medallist

– European high jump champion

– Jumped a world-leading 2.05m, equalling the outdoor national best

Sydney McLaughlin, USA

– World 400m hurdles and 4x400m champion

– Broke the world 400m hurdles record with 51.41 at the US Championships

– Further improved the world record to 50.68 to win the world title

Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Bahamas

– World 400m champion

– World indoor 400m champion

– NACAC 400m champion

Yulimar Rojas, Venezuela

– World indoor and outdoor triple jump champion

– Diamond League triple jump champion

– Improved her world record to 15.74m in Belgrade

A three-way voting process will determine the five finalists.

The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email. The World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50 per cent of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25 per cent of the final result.

Voting for the World Athletes of the Year closes at midnight on Monday 31 October. At the conclusion of the voting process, five women and five men finalists will be announced by World Athletics.

The winners will be revealed on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December.

The 20 shortlisted athletes were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.