Kipyegon, Kiptum win World Athletics awards
Double World Record Holder in 1,500m and one mile races Faith Kipyegon shows some of the medals she has won, during an interview at their home in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County on October 21, 2023.
What you need to know:
- Faith was named Female World Athlete of the Year in track events after a stellar season on the track.
- Kipyegon, 29, completed a double at the World Athletics Championships in August, a month after she shattered world records in the 1,500m, 5,000m and one mile races.
Kenyan athletes Monday dominated the 2023 World Athletics Awards held in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Two-time Olympics 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon, marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum, World 800m silver medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi and World 3000m steeplechase bronze medallist Faith Cherotich were all feted on a golden night for Kenyan athletics.
Faith was named Female World Athlete of the Year in track events after a stellar season.
Kipyegon, 29, completed a double at the World Athletics Championships in August, a month after she shattered world records in the 1,500m, 5,000m and one mile races.
Kipyegon, who is the 2016 and 2021 Olympic 1,500m champion, achieved the world records in less than two months.
Perhaps the most precious of them all was the world record that came at the Florence Diamond League on June 2 when she ran 3:49.11 to break the 1,500m world record of 3:50.07 set by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba in Monaco on July 17, 2015.
Her achievement in Florence, the first by a Kenyan woman, officially cemented Kipyegon’s legacy as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) in women’s middle-distance running, having won two Olympic and two world titles then.
Kiptum won the Male World Athlete of the Year for out of stadia events. The 23-year-old shattered the marathon world record when he won the Chicago Marathon in two hours and 35 seconds in October.
He took away 34 seconds from the previous marathon world record of 2:01:09 set by Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge in Berlin last year.
Kiptum, who made history as the first man to run a marathon under two hours and one minute, had also rewritten history books when he smashed the London Marathon course record, winning this year’s race in 1:01:25 on April 23.
Kiptum, who missed the world record by 18 seconds, beat Kipochoge’s course record of 2:02:37 set in 2019.
Women’s out of stadia award went to Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa, who broke the women’s world marathon record in Berlin Marathon where she clocked 2:11:43 in September lowering the previous record held by Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei of 2:14:04.
World Athlete of the Year-Men’s field award went to Swedish Mondo Duplantis, while the men’s track award was awarded to USA’s Noah Lyles.
The men’s rising star category went to Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi,who bagged a silver medal in this year's World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August, while Faith Cherotich is the female rising star.
Wanyonyi clocked 1:44.53 behind Canada’s Marco Arop who bagged gold medal in 1:44.24, while Ben Pattison from Great Britain settled for third place in 1:44.83.
In the International Fair Play Award category, Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey emerged the winner after she was captured consoling Sifan Hassan when she fell during the 10,000m race at the World Championships where she managed to win a silver medal.
2023 World Athletes of the Year
Women’s track: Faith Kipyegon, KEN, 1500m/mile/5000m
Women’s field: Yulimar Rojas, VEN, triple jump
Women’s out of stadia: Tigist Assefa, ETH, marathon
Men’s track: Noah Lyles, USA, 100m/200m
Men’s field: Mondo Duplantis, SWE, pole vault
Men’s out of stadia: Kelvin Kiptum, KEN, marathon
Coaching Achievement Award
Laurent Meuwly
Woman of the Year
Falilatou Tchanile-Salifou
Photograph of the Year
Mattia Ozbot
Member Federation Award
Athletics Australia
President's Award
Abbott World Marathon Majors
International Fair Play Award
Letesenbet Gidey
