December 07, (THEWILL) – In recognition of their world-record breaking efforts in 2022, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Mondo Duplantis, have been awarded the Women’s and Men’s World Athletics Athletes of the Year respectively.
The announcement means Nigeria’s hopeful, Oluwatobiloba Ayomide Amusan, who many Nigerians had supported in the anticipation that she would take home the top prize, lost out to the 400m hurdles world-record holder, McLaughlin-Levrone, as she becomes the first American to get it since Dalilah Muhammad, a fellow 400-metre hurdler, won the award in 2019.
In the male category, Duplantis defeated Kenya’s legendary marathoner, Eliud Kipchoge, who was aiming for a hat-trick of victories after winning in 2018 and 2019. Duplantis also beat compatriot, Noah Lyles and two other candidates to the prize for a year when he won both the indoor and outdoor world championships, after breaking the pole vaulting record thrice.
At the lavish ceremony conducted in Monaco, France, by the World Athletics, Erriyon Knighton and Adriana Vilagos were both chosen as the Male and Female Rising Stars of the Year.
Even though Amusan did not get the top prize, she will be proud of her record-breaking achievements over the period under review in what has been an incredible year for the hurdler, particularly for making Nigeria proud in prestigious events like the Olympic Games and the World Championships, when she finally found her stride towards the conclusion of the previous athletics season.
