World Athletics published the list of finalists for the athlete of the year and I must say that I am shocked. I am not surprised to see Noah Lyles in the track athlete selection. For unfathomable reasons, Sir Sebastian considers him the best track athlete, and perhaps the best overall. So, I will not be astonished if, at the end of the month, Lyles is crowned athlete of the year surpassing M. Duplantis.
But while Lyles' selection was, more or less, expected, there are other choices that I find shocking. F. Bol accompanies S. McLaughlin in the track short list. Yes, you read correctly. Not Chebet, not Kipyegon, not Jefferson-Wooden. What is the logic of this? Bol won the world title because McLaughlin opted for the flat race. Pushing Chebet out of the short list is unforgivable.
In men's field events it's M. Furlani who accompanies Duplantis. What is the rationale behind his selection? He just won the world title. He lost the Diamond League final, and he lost the European indoors. And the European team championships. And he does not have the world leading performance. I guess I have to add him to the list of Lord Sebastian's protégé's (Lyles, Machuchikh, Rojas, and now, probably, Bol and Furlani).
For women's field events my critique is not about persons. N. Olyslagers and T. Davis-Woodhall are 100% worth their selection. My gripe is that none of the two throwers present in the initial list, V. Allman and C. Rogers, was selected (to say nothing of the heptathlete A. Hall). And given the selection for men's track, no thrower at all figures in the finalist's list. (One must go back to 2000 for men and 2014 for women in order to find a thrower nominated athlete of the year. And I have manifested time and again my discontent for the blatant neglect of the great A. Wlodarczyk, who has never received an official distinction from World Athletics).
Simbu and Sawe were logical choices for the men's out of stadium finalists. (If only J. Kiplimo had succeeded in his bid for a world record in Chicago. He passed in 1:00:16 at mid-point and was ahead of Kiptum's pace at 30 km. But he could not maintain that pace and Sawe will most probably be chosen as year's best). In the women's case the finalists were P. Jepchrichir and M. Perez. Now I must confess that, while I dislike race-walking, I do admire M. Perez. In fact if I had to choose two finalists out of the five World Athletics nominees I would have chosen Perez to accompany Jepchirchir (the latter being clearly my first choice).
When I published my article on the WA nominees, I wrote that I would either update the post or, if it was justified, write a short article with my comments on their choices. Given the level of my irritation when I saw the finalists' list I consider this post amply justified.
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