Tobi Amusan is still in the running for the World Athletics Women’s Athlete of the Year award as she has been listed among the top five finalists for the award.
The Nigerian star was nominated as one of the 10 athletes for the award in early October, with the voting open until the end of the month.
She has now survived the elimination of half of the nominees, becoming one of the favourites to win the prestigious award.
The 25-year-old sprint hurdler has made history already this year and could make more by becoming the first athlete from Nigeria to win the award.
Amusan became the first Nigerian ever to win a World Athletics Championships title and set a world record in July in Oregon, United States of America.
She clocked an astounding 12.12 seconds in the women’s 100m hurdles in the semi-final to set a new world mark and followed up with a wind-assisted 12.06s hours later to win the title.
Amusan also retained her Nigeria, African, Commonwealth and Diamond League titles to end the year as the number one women’s sprint hurdler in the world.
Amusan is up against four other top women’s athletes in the world for the award, including two who also set world records in 2022, Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela and Sydney McLaughlin of the USA.
Rojas is the world indoor and outdoor triple jump champion and also won the Diamond League trophy, while McLaughlin broke the world 400m hurdles record twice.
The American first ran 51.41s at the US Championships before she improved it to 50.68s to win the world title in Oregon.
Jamaican legend and world 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who claimed her fifth world title in Oregon, is also up for the award, along with race walker Kimberly Garcia of Peru.
Garcia is the world 20km race walk champion, winning Peru’s first-ever World Athletics Championships medal.
World Athletics says the World Athletes of the Year for men and women will be announced on the governing body’s social media platforms in early December, as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022.
