World Athletics published their list of the best athletes of the year and while there is some overlap with mine there are also points of divergence. This is normal, my year's best list is established according to my own interpretation of the year's results and it is 100 % subjective. (One could point out that WA's choice, in particular when it comes to the nomination of the athlete of the year, is not totally objective either).
So, let us start with the women's list (given in alphabetical order)
Tobi Amusan *
Chase Ealey
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce *
Kimberly Garcia *
Shericka Jackson
Faith Kipyegon
Yaroslava Mahuchikh
Sydney McLaughlin *
Shaunae Miller-Uibo
Yulimar Rojas *
Just six of the athletes in the WA list figure also in mine. I did not mention at all C. Ealey. I did mention S. Fraser-Price just to say that I am not going to include her in my list (somehow I do not manage to appreciate her). K. Garcia was mentioned and I would have included her to my list (despite the fact that race-walking is a no-no for me) but for pure nationalistic reasons I chose A. Drisbioti. I did mention S. Miller-Uibo although I did not include her in the top ten.
I have also the impression that World athletics are coordinating their choice with that of European Athletics. There is no other way to understand the fact that F. Bol was absent from the top-ten list (and Thiam as well). Bol was the winner of the Golden Tracks trophy (for the second year in a row) which crowns the European athlete of the year. So, perhaps (but I am aware that this may sound as a conspiracy theory) the choices of the European federation may well influence those of World Athletics.
Let's move now to the men's list
Kristjan Ceh
Alison dos Santos
Mondo Duplantis *
Soufiane El Bakkali *
Grant Holloway
Jakob Ingebrigtsen *
Eliud Kipchoge *
Noah Lyles *
Anderson Peters
Pedro Pichardo
My list and that of WA have a 70 % overlap. The ones not figuring in my list are El Bakkali, Holloway and Pichardo. I think that El Bakkali cannot be compared to the best kenyan steeplechasers like Cherono, Kemboi or Kipruto. I may change opinion if he breaks the world record. Since the duel of G. Holloway with D. Allen never took place (for reasons I'll explain in a future post of mine) I decided to simply forget the 110 m hurdles. Finally Pichardo is a great triple jumper but I would have fully appreciated his world title had the two ex-cuban Diaz taken part in the championship.
A. Duplantis is at the top of my list, but he just obtained the european Golden Tracks trophy (shared with J. Ingebrigtsen). I wonder whether I should start worrying about his chances to be nominated athlete of the year. The european choice for male rising star went obviously to V. Alekna. And there was a nice surprise in the female category with E. Tzengko. I have mentioned her in my list of rising stars but finally my choice went to A. Vilagos whom I find better technically. However, Tzengko is stronger so no-one knows how their rivalry will evolve over the years.
The WA rising star list was published with a substantial delay with respect to the initial schedule (and thus I had to wait before publishing this article). Here is the women's list
Jackline Chepkoech
Faith Cherotich
Mine De Klerk
Kerrica Hill
Adriana Vilagos
In my post on the year's rising stars I presented only a list of three but only A. Vilagos (who is my choice for this year's rising star) does appear in the WA list. I just have a minor objection concerning the choice of F. Cherotich, since she is in the same specialty as J. Chepkoech and I chose Clayton over Hill but all in all WA's choice is OK. (And, just to risk a prediction, J. Chepkoech looks like the favourite for this year's trophy).
The men's rising star list is really bizarre.
Anthony Amirati
Jaydon Hibbert
Erriyon Knighton
Letsile Tebogo
Emmanuel Wanyonyi
Tebogo appears in my list and Knighton is also mentioned. But I find it preposterous that Alekna does not get even a simple mention. Does this mean that when somebody gets the european trophy he is de facto excluded from the world list? Anyhow, given the huge difference between Knighton and the others, he is, to my eyes, the favourite for this year's nomination. Unless the fact that he was chosen last year makes him ineligible. The procedures of World Athletics are becoming of byzantine complexity.
PS World Athletics has just published their list of five finalists. Instead of publishing a special post I have added an asterisk at the end of the names of the finalists. I am really worried seeing S-A Fraser-Pryce among the five. Would WA dare ignore S. McLaughlin for the second year in a row? Everything is possible. (There is of course the outsider, T. Amusan, but if it comes to choosing between the two hurdlers I think that McLaughlin would prevail). I cannot understand why Dos Santos did not make the finalist list. Here the situation is far from clear. Duplanits and Kipchoge have already been nominated athlete of the year title. Duplantis and Ingebrigtsen obtained the european Golden Tracks. Could Lyles obtain the title this year? Had he beaten Bolt's world record we would have been the obvious choice. But as the things stand I cannot make any predictions.
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