Marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge has been nominated for the Male Athlete of the Year award come December.

Kipchoge is set to battle it out for the coveted title against nine other world champions in this year’s award.

The 37-year-old Kipchoge, who is fresh from breaking his own marathon world record, won the 2018 and 2019 awards but also made the final list for the 2020 and 2021 awards.

The announcement opened the way for the voting process to get underway as the Athletic fraternity is set to vote for their favourite 2022 World Athletes of the year.

With Kipchoge enjoying a stellar season lady luck could possibly knock at his door again to become the only third athlete in history to win the award three times.

The others to have won it three or more times include legendary Moroccan athlete Hicham El Gourouj who scooped the award three times and Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt who has scooped a stunning six times.

Kipchoge who has been regarded as the greatest marathoner is currently tied with Ethiopian long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele and the American duo of Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson who have each won it twice.

Back in 2018, Kipchoge won the award after he set the World Record at the Berlin Marathon and in 2019, he won it after becoming the first man to run the marathon in under two hours.

Long distance runner

The Kenyan long-distance runner will face world champions Ceh Kristjan (discus) from Slovakia, Brazilian Alison Dos Santos (400m hurdles), Sweden Mondo Duplantis (pole vault), Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali (3,000m steeplechase) and American Grant Holloway (110m hurdles).

Norwegian Jakob Ingerbrigtsen (5,000m), Noah Lyles (200m) from the United States, Grenada’s Anderson Peters (javelin) and Pedro Pichardo (triple jump) from Portugal are all in contention for the title.

“It has been another memorable year for the sport and the nominations reflect some of the standout performances achieved at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, one-day meeting circuits, and other events around the world,” said a statement from World Athletics.

Kipchoge’s nomination comes in the backdrop of the legendary long-distance runner breaking his own marathon record by 30 seconds when he ran 2:01:09 to win the Berlin Marathon last month having also claimed the Tokyo Marathon title in March.

If he wins, it will be a double for Kenya after 1500m women’s Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon was also nominated for the Women’s Athlete of the Year award.

Kipyegon had a sensational season that saw her reclaim the world title in Oregon before clinching a third Diamond League trophy.

The 28-year-old also missed the 1500m world record with seconds when she ran 3:50.37 at the Monaco Diamond League.

Kipyegon will be looking to be the first Kenyan female athlete to win the award but will face stiff competition from among others; World 100 m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and World 200 m champion both of Jamaica.

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