Faith Kipyegon and 2 other Kenyan runners nominated for 2025 World Athlete of the Year
By Luke Oluoch, October 13, 2025Three Kenyans have been shortlisted for the World Athletics Athlete of the Year awards following their outstanding performances during the 2024/25 season.
The WAC has unveiled the ten male and female candidates to battle out for the ultimate honours this Monday, October 13, 2025.
Kenya’s brightest starlets in the 2025 World Athletics Championship, Beatrice Chebet and Faith Kipyegon, headline the five-woman star list.
Kipyegon ,Chebet stars
Kipyegon, the reigning women’s 1500m champion, will face competition from her compatriot Chebet and four others.
The Kenyan pair will face stiff competition from the United States of America, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden,
Wooden currently boasts the world 100m, 200m, and 4x100m victories. She is also undefeated in the 100m, with the top five performances in 2025.
Others in the list are the evergreen Dutch trackster, Femke Bol.
The reigning World and Diamond League 400m hurdles champion. Bol, who recently announced she will be transitioning to the 800 m races, remains undefeated in the 400m hurdles.
The World 400m and 4x400m champion, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone from the USA, concludes the women’s list.
Reigning 800 m Olympic and World champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi headlines the men’s list of 2025 standout performers.
Wanyonyi, who secured gold in the concluded World Athletics Championship in Tokyo, is joined by the USA’s trio of Rai Benjamin, Cordell Tinch, and the 100 m sprinter Noah Lyles.
France’s Jimmy Gressier wraps up the five-man shortlist after his surprise win in the 10,000m race in Tokyo.
The Frenchman also won the Diamond League 3000m race.
The 2025 World Athletics Awards will also include the Rising Star awards, Coaching Achievement Award, Woman of the Year, Photograph of the Year, Member Federation Award and President’s Award.