Kenyan Double Olympic 1500 meters champion Faith Kipyegon and world marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum highlighted Kenyans honoured at the revamped World Athletics awards gala on Monday evening in Monaco, France.
Compared with the previous editions where one winner was crowned in the men’s and women’s categories, World Athletics adopted a new format where winners were categorized according to their disciplines- track, field events and out-of-stadia events.
Faith Kipyegon claimed the Female Athlete of the Year track events with Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia being crowned the best females.
Faith Kipyegons stood as the clear favourite to claim the women’s award after a scintillating season that saw her claim two gold medals at the World Championships while also breaking three world records over 1500m, 5000m and the mile.
In the other men’s side, Kiptum was crowned Male Athlete of the Year in out-of- stadia events owing to his record breaking heroics at the Chicago Marathon where he became the first man to run a marathon in under two hours and one minute (2:1).
Kelvin kiptum also claimed victory at the London Marathon thus becoming the series winner at the 2023 World Marathon Majors.
The pair of Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Faith Cherotich were crowned the men’s and women’s Rising Stars at a higher rate.
Emmanuel Wanyonyi took silver in 800m at the World Championships before claiming the Diamond League trophy while Cherotich won bronze in 3000m steeplechase at the Worlds before settling for third also in the Diamond League final.
“Today is a beautiful closure of an amazing year for me. I am honoured that my performances on the track have been recognised by the athletics community. The support of my family, my team, my training partners, my fellow competitors fuel me to work hard and chase my dreams and ambititons. I hope my achievements motivate and inspire many girls to do the same”, Faith Kipyegon says as she cerebrate her victory of world track athletic year.