Four Kenyan athletes on Monday night led by Faith Kipyegon scooped four awards during the World Athletics of the Year gala

Kipyegon was named the Female World Athlete of the Year in track events while marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum was named the Male World Athlete of the Year out of stadia.

Kipyegon set world records at an incredible three distances during a season in which she also achieved a golden double at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23. 

First, the 29-year-old Kenyan improved the world 1500m record to 3:49.11 in Florence, taking almost a full second off the previous mark.

Just one week later, and despite having raced the 5000m just twice before, she improved the world record for that event, too, clocking 14:05.20 in Paris to shave 1.42 seconds from the old record.

Her third world record came in Monaco, where she smashed the previous mile mark by five seconds, clocking 4:07.64. Then, in Budapest, she won her third senior world 1500m title and her first world 5000m crown.

Kiptum also achieved his world record in a World Athletics Platinum Label road race, running 2:00:35 at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in October. Becoming the first athlete to break 2:01 in a record-eligible marathon, the 24-year-old Kenyan won the race by almost three and a half minutes and took 34 seconds off Eliud Kipchoge’s previous world record.

Just one year on from his marathon debut, Kiptum now has three of the seven fastest times in history to his name having also won the TCS London Marathon in April in 2:01:25. 

The world champions and world record-breakers were the final winners to be revealed as part of the World Athletics Awards 2023 on Monday (11), following confirmation of this year’s Rising Stars: world 3000m steeplechase bronze medallist Faith Cherotich and world 800m silver medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi.

The adaptation of the World Athlete of the Year honours awarded this year follows feedback received during the voting process. Many sensational performances – including an extraordinary 23 world records – were achieved in 2023.

When it came to compiling the votes, athletes, fans and World Athletics Family members commented that it was incredibly hard to limit the vote to just one athlete, because of the various disciplines and the vast differences in skill sets required.

As a result, for 2023 the World Athlete of the Year awards have been divided into three event categories: track, field and out of stadia.

World Athletes of the Year for 2023

Women’s track: Faith Kipyegon, KEN, 1500m/mile/5000m

Women’s field: Yulimar Rojas, VEN, triple jump

Women’s out of stadia: Tigist Assefa, ETH, marathon

Men’s track: Noah Lyles, USA, 100m/200m

Men’s field: Mondo Duplantis, SWE, pole vault

Men’s out of stadia: Kelvin Kiptum, KEN, marathon By Washington Onyango, The Standard