American 200m world champion Noah Lyles is one of five finalists for the Men’s World Athlete of the Year award.
Lyles is joined on the shortlist by two Scandinavian world champions – Norway’s distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis.
Steeplechase king Soufiane El Bakkali, of Morocco, and Kenya’s world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge complete the quintet of nominations.
The winner will be announced by World Athletics in December.
Mondo Duplantis
Sweden’s American-born Duplantis won the world pole vault indoor and outdoor double in 2022, in addition to claiming the Diamond League and European crowns in a dominant year.
The 23-year-old, who won this award in 2020, also improved his own world record to 6.21m.
Soufiane El Bakkali
El Bakkali ended the 2022 season unbeaten after adding the world 3,000m steeplechase title to the Olympic gold he won last year.
The 26-year-old also claimed the Diamond League title and ran his event’s fastest time of the year, with seven minutes 58.28 seconds in his home country’s capital city, Rabat.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen
Norway’s Ingebrigtsen crowned a fantastic year by claiming 5,000m gold at the World Championships.
He also won the European 1500m and 5,000m double in Munich and set a new 1500m indoor world record of three minutes 30.60 seconds, as well as claiming the Diamond League title over that distance.
Eliud Kipchoge
Veteran distance runner Kipchoge, who won back-to-back World Athlete of the Year honours in 2018 and 2019, improved his own marathon world record to two hours one minute nine seconds.
That milestone came at the Berlin Marathon in September, beating his previous record by 30 seconds, while the 38-year-old also won the Tokyo Marathon earlier in the year.
Noah Lyles
Sprinter Lyles, 25, broke the legendary Michael Johnson’s 26-year-old American record by winning the world 200m title in 19.31 seconds in Oregon.
That time moved Lyles, who also won the Diamond League in 2022, to third on the the all-time list behind Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake.