The athletes shortlisted include Britain’s Mo Farah, South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk, Australia’s Sally Pearson and Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana.

Justin Gatlin has not been included on the shortlist, and it’s the first time since 2004 that the 100m Olympic or world champion has not been included among the nominees.

The shortlist was selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of the IAAF.

The 20 nominees for Male and Female 2017 World Athlete of the Year are listed below.

Men
Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT)
Pawel Fajdek (POL)
Mohamed Farah (GBR)
Sam Kendricks (USA)
Elijah Manangoi (KEN)
Luvo Manyonga RSA)
Omar McLeod (JAM)
Christian Taylor (USA)
Wayde van Niekerk (RSA)
Johannes Vetter (GER)

Women
Almaz Ayana (ETH)
Maria Lasitskene (ANA)
Hellen Obiri (KEN)
Sally Pearson (AUS)
Sandra Perkovic (CRO)
Brittney Reese (USA)
Caster Semenya (RSA)
Ekaterini Stefanidi (GRE)
Nafissatou Thiam (BEL)
Anita Wlodarczyk (POL)

This week marks the opening of the voting process and fans can vote online via the IAAF’s social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook and Twitter later this week; a ‘like’ or ‘favourite’ will count as one vote.

IAAF Council and the IAAF Family will cast their votes by email, with the Council’s vote counting for 50%, while the IAAF Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25%.

Voting closes on 16 October. At the conclusion of the voting process, three men and three women finalists will be announced by the IAAF.

The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live on stage at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2017.

The post Mo Farah, Wayde van Niekerk & Sally Pearson Among Nominees for World Athlete of the Year appeared first on Fast Running.