Ruth Chepngetich is the only Kenyan who has made it to the Athlete of the Year finalists, having been nominated for the Female Out of Stadium Athlete of the Year Award.

Chepng’etich, who is the current women’s world record holder in the marathon, with a time of 2:09:56 set at the 2024 Chicago Marathon, will battle it out for the award against Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan.

The category had three other contestants including Ethiopia’s Asefa Kebede and Tigist Ketema and Kenya’s Agnes Jebet Ngetich.

Initially, Benson Kipruto had been nominated to vie for the World Athletics men’s Out of Stadium Athlete of the Year awards, but crashed out.

Kipruto, the Tokyo Marathon reigning champion, was set up to vie against five nominees for this year’s award but failed to make the cut for the top two.

The voting closes on Sunday, November 10, 2024, for the six categories announced in this year’s competition.

The Athletes of the Year in each category, as well as the overall winner, will be revealed at a ceremony in Monaco on Sunday, December 1, 2024, as part of the World Athletics Awards 2024.

“The top two leading athletes in each category – track, field and out of stadium – have been chosen from the first round of voting, which comprised votes from the World Athletics Council, World Athletics Family and a public vote on social media. One of these two athletes will take the crown in their category,” World Athletics stated on Monday, November 4, 2024.

“Now, in a new addition to this year’s awards, a final round of voting – cast by fans of the sport – will take place between 4-10 November to decide who the overall World Athlete of the Year is.”

Here’s the full list of the finalists for the World Athletics Awards 2024;

Women’s track athlete of the year

Julien Alfred (LCA) – Olympic 100m champion
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) – Olympic 400m hurdles champion

Men’s track athlete of the year

Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) – Olympic 5000m champion
Letsile Tebogo (BOT) – Olympic 200m champion

Women’s field athlete of the year

Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) – Olympic high jump champion
Nafissatou Thiam (BEL) – Olympic heptathlon champion

Men’s field athlete of the year

Mondo Duplantis (SWE) – Olympic pole vault champion
Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) – Olympic long jump champion

Women’s out of stadium athlete of the year

Ruth Chepngetich (KEN) – world marathon record-holder
Sifan Hassan (NED) – Olympic marathon champion

Men’s out of stadium athlete of the year

Brian Pintado (ECU) – Olympic 20km race walk champion
Tamirat Tola (ETH) – Olympic marathon champion