The year’s best athletes: my choice

Yes, it’s that time of year when, imitating World Athletics, I present the list of the athletes who (to my eyes, obviously) have distinguished themselves during the 2026 season. Is there any need to repeat that my list is totally subjective? Those who follow my blog know very well that, if I don’t like somebody, I will do my best to forget him or her when compiling my list and, if this turns out to be impossible, at least minimise his or her presence.

Marileidy Paulino is my choice for the year’s top female athlete. She was unbeaten in all the races she participated in this year (from 200 to 800 m), including the Ultimate Championship. Her top performance, 48.48 s in the 400 m, came early in the year and is half a second slower than her 47.98 s from last year’s World Championships, but this year she was unchallenged in her specialty distance and did not have to push herself as she did in 2025.

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden dominated the short sprints, winning the Ultimate champion’s title. Her time over 200 m, 21.47 s, places her third on the all-time list, behind Flo-Jo and S. Jackson. (Speaking of sprint queens, I cannot fail to mention Amy Hunt and her superb four-gold gambit at this year’s Europeans).

Masai Russell broke the world record for the 100 m hurdles with 12.09 s and went on to win the Ultimate championship title. Her only defeat this year came over a non-specialty 200 m. She won all the hurdles races, and when one realises how difficult it is to be consistent over the hurdles, her 100% success rate acquires another dimension.

I would have placed Tigst Assefa on the podium alongside Russell had she succeeded in breaking the mixed-race women’s marathon world record as well, last month in Berlin. Unfortunately, she was unable to maintain her blistering pace over the last two kilometres and finished with 2:11:04, which is still the third-best time ever. In case you wonder, she holds the women-only record with 2:15:41, from the London Marathon.

A. Werro had an incredible summer season, dominating the 800 m despite the presence of K. Hodgkinson and F. Bol. Her time of 1:53.70 places her less than half a second from Kratochvilova’s 40-year-old record.

Faith Cherotich dominated the women’s 3000 m steeplechase this year and, to my eyes, she is the real heir to the great Beatrice Chepkoech, perhaps even more so than W. Yavi (of whom I am a great fan—but more on her later).

Ziyi Yan threw twice over 70 m in the javelin, something we had not seen since 2008, the golden year of Barbora Spotakova. She is now half a metre from the latter’s world record and, given that she is just 18 years old, I believe we are ready to witness a new record, perhaps as early as next year.

Women’s shot put is definitely making progress. Chase Jackson finished the year with 21.14 m (very close to the unofficial world record of V. Adams) and Jessica Schilder was not far behind with 21.09 m. S. Mitton and Y. Ogunleye also had performances over 20 m.

Winfred Yavi had a so-so season, but she ended it in the most spectacular way, winning the 10000 m, 3000 m steeplechase and 5000 m at the Asian Championships. I don’t think anybody else, man or woman, has ever done so at a continental championship.

Speaking of multiple victories brings us to Nadia Battocletti, who repeated her 2024 feat by winning both the 5000 m and 10000 m at this year’s European Championships.

The list of ten appears short when it comes to mentioning all the athletes who have distinguished themselves. C. Rogers was indisputably the top hammer thrower this year. With 81.13 m, she sits in second place on the all-time list, behind only the great Anita Wlodarczyk. Larissa Iapichino was probably the most consistent long jumper, winning European and Ultimate titles and breaking her mother’s Italian record. The triple jump saw three athletes excel: Thea Lafond signed the year’s best performance with 15.25 m, Davidsleydi Velazco improved her personal best by close to half a metre with 15.13 m, and Saly Sarr grabbed the Ultimate title and a new best of 15.08 m. Valarie Allman-Sion was less dominant in the discus this year but managed to throw over 73 m once again (in Ramona, where else?). And it has been quite some time since we have seen a female pole vaulter clear 5 m. Sandi Morris, once the Ultimate champion’s crown was secured at 4.90 m, took two tries at 4.95 m and then raised the bar to 5 m (her personal best from 2016). She did not succeed, but it was a great moment (and a moving comeback from an athlete who, had she been able to adapt her technique to her physical means, would have been number one in the discipline).

Alison Dos Santos is my choice for the year’s top male athlete. I remember how, in the 1980s, we were amazed by Edwin Moses being able to run the 400 m hurdles in 13 strides. Dos Santos is running in 12 strides up to the sixth hurdle, which means that he is equally at ease with both legs over the hurdles (something that Warholm has never managed, which makes for sometimes disastrous race endings when he switches from 13 to 15 strides). Dos Santos ran twice under 46 s this year, and I don’t think he has reached his maximum.

Sebastian Sawe was the first man to run an official marathon under two hours, with 1:59:30, and Yomif Kejelcha was the most unlucky one in this race, finishing a mere 10 seconds behind. (Jacob Kiplimo also dipped under the previous world record, in 2:00:28). But Sawe was first, and so he is the one on the second step of my podium.

Mondo Duplantis is again on the podium, but as of this year he is not the unchallenged champion of the pole vault. Manolo Karalis is now regularly pushing Duplantis to his limits, and the duo is offering us competitions at breath-taking heights. Can you imagine jumping 6.20 m and finishing second, or having two athletes make an attempt at a would-be world record—something seen only once, I think, in the Vigneron–Bubka duel at the Rome Golden Gala in 1984, where Vigneron took Bubka’s 5.90 m record with 5.91 m and Bubka riposted with 5.94 m?

Gian-Marco Tamberi is, to my eyes, the best high jumper (although, to be honest, I would have said the same thing about Barshim). What he did at both the Europeans and the Ultimate Championship were not only great athletic accomplishments but also probably the most memorable moments of the year. As you can guess, I have a weakness for charismatic people, and Tamberi is definitely one.

Were we to look for a character totally different from Tamberi, Miltos Tentoglou is an excellent candidate. Reserved and serious, he approaches his discipline, which he has been dominating for years, in a particularly focused and calm way. His personality may come across as a bit dry, but there are few athletes as reliable as Miltos. I have always been impressed by his technical analyses, which lack any attempt at building a public image. And I am really glad that the black days of 2025 are now a thing of the past.

Busang Kebinatshipi dominated the 400 m but paid a relative price when he decided to change his usual race strategy, going all out in the first half of the race during the Ultimate Championship. As a result, he had to content himself with a time of 43.39 s, which is not even a world-leading one. Still, I believe that if anyone can go for the 43-second barrier, it’s Kebinatshipi.

Kenny Bednarek won both the short sprint races, taking the Ultimate champion’s title and beating world champions Tebogo and Seville in the process. Ja’Kobe Tharp ran six times under 13 s in the 110 m hurdles, with a new world record of 12.75 s early in the season. And he is just 21 years old.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen came back to competition after almost a year’s absence and stunned everybody by winning a European title over 5000 m. He went on to add the Ultimate champion title over the same distance. Does this mean that he is now eyeing the longer distances, moving up from the 1500 m? Josh Kerr, with 3:42.66, broke the mile record, which had stood for more than a quarter of a century (since El Guerrouj broke Morceli’s record with 3:43.13 in a fabulous race in which Ngeny was second with 3:43.40). Kristjan Ceh was undoubtedly the best discus thrower of the year, winning the European title and the Diamond League final (there was no discus in the Ultimate Championship programme this year). But what is more impressive is that he came within 10 cm of his Ramona-established personal best in Birmingham. (From what I remember, the Europeans in Birmingham were quite windy, but I doubt that the wind speed was anywhere near that of Ramona). Rumesh Pathirage is Sri Lankan, but he certainly partakes of the Indian passion for cricket that has recently given us a whole generation of javelin throwers. With 92.62 m, he is among the 10 best throwers of all time and, being just 23 years old, has a real margin for progression.

The list is already quite long, and there are names that have been left out. I wonder whether, in the future, it wouldn’t be better to give a discipline-by-discipline report of the year and simply present the names of the three best in the three specialties recently introduced by World Athletics: track, field and out of stadia. Speaking of which, here are my lists:

Track

Dos Santos, Kebinatshipi, Bednarek

Paulino, Jefferson-Wooden, Russell

(That was easy to guess, given what I wrote above).

Field

Duplantis, Tamberi, Tentoglou

Yan, (Rogers, Iapichino)

(For me, Yan is the best, and only reluctantly did I add the other two).

Out of stadia

Sawe, Kejelcha, Kiplimo

Assefa, Amebaw, Perez

(Amebaw distinguished herself both in and out of the stadium, and thus earned her place. As for Perez, as I have already said, she is the one race walker for whom I make an exception).