Male Athlete of the Year: Kipchoge and El Bakkali confirmed as finalists

Africa’s duo of Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) and Soufiane El Bakkali (Morocco) are confirmed as finalists for the 2022 World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year.

Kipchoge who competes in the long-distance and marathon events won the 2022 Berlin Marathon with a time of 2:01:09, which surpassed his previous World Record (WR) by 30seconds, set on the same course in 2018.

The Moroccan’s trademark event is the 3000m Steeplechase, where he stayed undefeated throughout the 2022 season, as well as running a world-leading time of 7:58.28 at Rabat Diamond League.

Both athletes will face three stiff competitors for the prestigious award. The other athletes selected are: Mondo Duplantis (World Pole Vault Champion), Jakob Ingebrigtsen (World 5000m champion), and Noah Lyles (World 200m Champion). 

These athletes were chosen from five countries from three different associations, based on their outstanding achievements across all athletics competitions in 2022, especially at the World Championships in Oregon, and World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.

- Improved his World Marathon Record to 2:01:09, fourth victory in Berlin 

- Berlin Marathon Champion

- Tokyo Marathon Champion

- Improved his World Marathon Record to 2:01:09, fourth victory in Berlin 

- Berlin Marathon Champion

- Tokyo Marathon Champion

- World 200m Champion

- Diamond League 200m Champion

- Ran a world-leading National Record of 19.31s to move to third on the world all-time list

- World 3000m Steeplechase Champion

- Diamond League 3000m Steeplechase Champion

- Unbeaten in 2022, running a world-leading 7:58.28 in Rabat

World Pole Vault Champion indoors and outdoors

- Diamond League and European Pole Vault Champion

- Improved his WR to 6.19m and 6.20m indoors, and then 6.21m outdoors

The voting procedure was via a three-way voting process to determine the finalists. The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans logged their decisions online via the World Athletics social media platforms where a record 1.3 million votes were registered.

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

The World Athletes of the Year will be announced on World Athletics’ social media platforms on December 5th, as part of the 2022 World Athletics Awards.