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After his splendid success at the Chicago marathon, Kenyan runner Kelvin Kiptum is among the top eleven nominees selected for the Men’s World Athlete of the Year Award 2023, a prestigious accolade presented by World Athletics.

The decision to nominate Kiptum comes just a day after another Kenyan, Faith Kipyegon, who holds a world record in 1500m and 5000m, was shortlisted for the women’s award alongside other 11 athletes among them Ethiopians Tigist Assefa and Gudaf Tsegay.

In a statement released on Thursday, October 12, World Athletics confirmed the names of the selected athletes for the award with Kiptum making the list just four days after he had destroyed the official world record, that had belonged to marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge in Chicago.

The 23-year-old Kiptum’s time of 2 hours and 35 seconds was 34 seconds faster than the best of Kipchoge ((2:01:09), set at the 2022 Berlin Marathon. Kiptum set the fastest debut time (2:01:53) in his first race at the distance at the 2022 Valencia Marathon and then followed it up with the second fastest marathon ever (2:01:25) in rainy conditions at this year’s London Marathon 2023.

However, his 2023 Chicago Marathon run took the event to a whole new level. A level that just a few short years ago seemed beyond the realms of possibility. He will now face off with USA’s World 100 and 200m champions Noah Lyles, World 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm from Norway, and World champion 3000m steeplechase champions from Morocco for the top award.

Others on the list include World 20km and 35km race walk champion Alvaro Martin from Spain, World champion long jump Miltiadis Tentoglou, World 5000m champion and 1500m silver medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway, World decathlon champion Pierce LePage from Canada and World champion in Javelin Neeraj Chopra.

According to World Athletics, the successful athletes were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics and the nominations reflected some of the standout displays achieved at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, one-day meeting circuits, label road races and other events around the world.