Neeraj Chopra has made the five-man shortlist for the men’s World Athlete of the Year 2023 award. Neeraj was part of the 11 athletes who were in the race for the year-ending honour from the governing body of track and field events in the world.
Having won the World Championships Gold medal in a historic feat and the Asian Games gold medal, Neeraj Chopra had another fine year at the top. The Tokyo Olympic gold medalist also finished second in the Diamond League final after having 2 Diamond League meetings – in Doha and Lausanne.
Neeraj Chopra will be battling for the year-end honor along with 100m and 200m world champion Noah Lyles, pole vault star Mondo Duplantis, shot putter Ryan Crouser and Kenyan marathon star Kelvin Kiptum.
Neeraj Chopra, IND, javelin
· World champion
· Asian Games champion
Ryan Crouser, USA, shot put
· World champion
· World record
Mondo Duplantis, SWE, pole vault
· World champion
· Diamond League champion with world record
Kelvin Kiptum, KEN, marathon
· London and Chicago Marathon winner
· Marathon world record breaker
Noah Lyles, USA, 100m/200m
· World 100m and 200m champion
· World leader and undefeated in six finals at 200m
The 5-man shortlist was determined after a voting process for 11 men who were on the longlist for the award. Steeplechaser Soufiane El Bakkali, middle-distance runner, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, decathlon star, Pierce LePage, race walker Alvaro Martin, long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou and Karsten Warholm, 400m hurdles champion, missed out on making the finals.
A three-way voting process determined the finalists for the World Athlete of the Year award. 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 2 million votes were registered. The voting closed on October 20.
The winner of the men and women’s World Athlete of the Year will be announced on December 11.