Elaine Thompson-Herah is a finalist in balloting for the Female World Athlete of the Year Award for the third time in her career. Thompson-Herah, who repeated her 2016 Olympic sprint double this year in Tokyo, was shortlisted alongside 4 other Olympic gold medal winners. 

All-Time Performances

After finishing third in both the 100m and 200m at Jamaica’s National Championships in June, Thompson-Herah delivered the second-fastest times in both events to capture the 100m and 200m titles in Tokyo – 10.61 and 21.53 seconds respectively. Soon afterwards, she sliced the Jamaican 100m national record to 10.54 seconds in Eugene in her first race. She lost just once more after Tokyo, to compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce in Brussels and zipped past the 10.7 seconds barrier on four occasions.

This is the third time the 29-year-old Thompson-Herah has been a finalist. She has previously attained this distinction in 2016 and 2020. Merlene Ottey in 1990 and Fraser Pryce in 2013 are the only Jamaican women to win the top award. A good sign for Tokyo double champion Thompson-Herah is that Fraser Pryce earned top honours in a season she crowned with a sprint double of her own at the World Championships in Moscow, Russia.

Contenders

Thompson-Herah’s rivals for the award are Sydney McLaughlin, Yulimar Rojas, Sifan Hassan and Faith Kipyegon.

Sydney McLaughlin, undefeated in the 400m hurdles, became the first woman in history to break 52 seconds with a time of 51.90 seconds at the US Olympic trials. In Tokyo, she was even faster at 51.46 seconds.

Yulimar Rojas, the lanky Venezuelan, triple jumped 15.67 metres to erase a 26-year-old mark by 17 centimetres in the last round of competition in Tokyo.

Sifan Hassan tried an audacious triple at the Olympics, winning the 5000m and 10,000m for Holland and adding the bronze medal in the 1500m. Undefeated in the longer events, Hassan set a world record in the 10,000m – 29 minutes 06.82 seconds on June 6. It was broken days later by the eventual Olympic bronze medallist, Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia.

Faith Kipyegon defended her Olympic 1500m title in Tokyo and lost just once all season. In addition, the little Kenyan became the fourth-fastest woman of all time with her year leading run of 3 minutes 51.07 seconds.

Voting Process

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 the World Athletics social media platforms. The World Athletics Council’s vote counts for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each count for 25% of the final result.

The female and male World Athletes of the Year will be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2021 on December 1.