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Ugandan long distance star athletes Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo will be among the favourites for the Male World Athlete of the Year award at the World Athletics Awards 2020 December.
This is after the pair were nominated to a 10-man shortlist for the award set to be held virtually on Saturday December 05.
This followed a followed a remarkable 10 months in which the pair have dragged the country from a fairly respected nation in the Athletics world to one of the favourites to win medals in the middle and long distance races ahead of the postponed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo next year.
Looking at their competitors, few seem to have a chance against Cheptegei who this year alone broke world records at 5000m (12:35.36), 10,000m (26:11.00) and 5km on the roads (12:51).
Cheptegei's time in the 5000m ran at a remarkable 60.43 seconds per lap saw him break the world record by almost two seconds from the time set by Kenenisa Bekele 16 years ago.
Buoyed by that 5000m success, Cheptegei then went after another Bekele record smashing the Ethiopian's 15-year old 10,000m world record in a time of 26 minutes 11.00 seconds in Valencia by more than six seconds on October 08.
Not to be outdone, teenager Kiplimo reminded the world of his prowess after a two-year absence on track by stunning world silver medalist Ethiopian Selemon Barega in the 5000m race at the 59th Ostrava Golden Spike Meeting in Czech Republic.
He thereafter won the World half marathon title in a championship record of 58:49 in the Polish city of Gdynia in October.
The 19-year old Kiplimo who is also a World Cross country silver medalist was also further rewarded with a national 3000-meter record after a tremendous final kick saw him defeat 1500m European champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen to win at the Rome’s Diamond League track and field meeting in September.
Kiplimo is now the 8th-fastest man in history. His 7:26.64 is also the fastest time recorded at 3000 in 13 years — since Kenenisa Bekele ran 7:25.70 in August 2007.
A three-way voting process will determine the finalists with the World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family casting their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the World Athletics' social media platforms.
Individual graphics for each nominee are on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with; a 'like' on Facebook and Instagram or a retweet on Twitter counting as one vote.
The World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.
Voting ends at midnight on November 15.
How did their competitors fare
Donavan Brazier, USA
- ran world-leading 800m times indoors (1:44.22, North American indoor record) and outdoors (1:43.15)
- won all seven of his races over all distances
Timothy Cheruiyot, Kenya
- ran world-leading 3:28.45 over 1500m
- undefeated in three 1500m races
Ryan Crouser, USA
- undefeated in 10 shot put competitions
- his 22.91m world-leading performance moved him to equal third on the world all-time list
Mondo Duplantis, Sweden
- broke the world record in the pole vault twice (6.17m and 6.18m) and produced the highest outdoor vault of all time (6.15m)
- undefeated in 16 competitions
Jacob Kiplimo, Uganda
- won world half marathon title in a championship record of 58:49
- ran a world-leading 7:26.64 over 3000m, the fastest time in the world since 2007
Noah Lyles, USA
- undefeated in five finals
- ran a world-leading 19.76 over 200m
Daniel Stahl, Sweden
- won 17 of his 19 discus competitions
- threw a world-leading 71.37m
Johannes Vetter, Germany
- won eight of his nine javelin competitions
- threw a world-leading 97.76m, the second farthest throw in history
Karsten Warholm, Norway
- ran a world-leading 46.87 in the 400m hurdles, the second fastest performance in history
- undefeated in nine 400m/400m hurdles races and set world best of 33.78 in 300m hurdles
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