Shelly shortlisted for World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year award
Jamaica’s five-time World Championships 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has been shortlisted for the World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year award.
The 35-year-old, who won the women’s 100m gold medal in July’s World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, was named on a list of five athletes.
A release from World Athletics said: “[The five] who represent five countries from three area associations, have achieved sensational performances across a range of athletics disciplines in 2022, at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world.”
Meanwhile, World Championships gold medallist Shericka Jackson, who was also nominated, failed to make the cut.
Fraser-Pryce, who won the award after the 2013 season, was among five athletes who were shortlisted, including 100m hurdles world record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria; World 20km race walk champion Kimberly Garcia, who won Peru’s first-ever World Athletics Championships medal; American Sydney McLaughlin, who broke the world record in the 400m hurdles twice this year and won gold medals at the World Championships in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relays; and Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela, World indoor and outdoor triple jump champion and double world record holder.
The list was whittled down from the original 10 nominees by a three-way voting process to determine the finalists. “The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans logged their decisions online via the World Athletics social media platforms where a record 1.3 million votes were registered.
“The World Athletics Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result,” the release also said.
Fraser-Pryce, who won her fifth World Championships title in the 100m at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, in July, ran the 100m in 10.70 seconds or faster eight times with a season’s best 10.62 seconds.
She was also second in the 200m at the World Championships behind Jackson, lost only one 100m race that she completed, to Jackson at the Diamond League in Belgium.