World 1,500m champion Timothy Cheruiyot has missed out on the World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year Award

Cheruiyot was Kenya's sole flagbearer for the coveted award. World Athletics has released the final five nominees for the award with the winner expected to be announced virtually on December 5.

Uganda's world record holder in the 5,000m and 10,000m Joshua Cheptegei is the favorite for the gong. He broke world records at 5,000m (12:35.36), 10,000m (26:11.00) and 5km on the roads (12:51) and was fourth at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships on his debut over the distance.

Two-time 400m hurdles world champion Karsten Warholm of Norway makes the cut for the award after a stellar season on the track.

He ran a world-leading 46.87 in the 400m hurdles, the second-fastest performance in history, and was undefeated in nine 400m/400m hurdles races and set a world best of 33.78 in 300m hurdles

Former world javelin champion Johannes Vetter, of Germany, is in the mix after winning eight of his nine javelin competitions and throwing world-leading 97.76m, the second farthest throw in history

World Pole vault record holder Mondo Duplantis of Sweden makes the shortlist. He broke the world record in the pole vault twice (6.17m and 6.18m) and produced the highest outdoor vault of all time (6.15m) and was undefeated in 16 competitions.

USA'S Ryan Crouser will be e hoping to break the trend and win the award. He was undefeated in 10 shot put competitions and his 22.91m world-leading performance moved him to equal third on the world all-time list

A three-way voting process determined the finalists. The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans voted online via our social media platforms.

The Council’s vote counted for 50 per cent of the result, while the Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25 per cent of the final result.

posted Tuesday November 24th
by World Athletics