Alfred makes Athlete of the Year shortlist as Noah Lyles misses out

The St Lucian sprint queen will compete for the Women’s Track Athlete of the Year award against American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone

Julien Alfred, of Saint Lucia, crosses the finish line to win the women’s 100 metres during the Diamond League final 2024 athletics meet in Brussels, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. At right is second placed Dina Asher-Smith, of Great Britain. (AP Photo/Frederic Sierakowski, File).

Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles has missed out on the final shortlist for the Men’s Track Athlete of the Year award, World Athletics announced on Monday.

Lyles secured his 100m gold in Paris with a nail-biting finish, beating Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by a mere five thousandths of a second on August 4. Despite his dramatic victory, the final two contenders for the men’s accolade are 200m Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana and Norway’s 5000m gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Lyles, aiming for a sprint double, had to settle for bronze in the 200m, finishing behind Tebogo and fellow American Kenny Bednarek. Lyles later disclosed he competed in the 200m final despite testing positive for COVID-19.

In contrast, the winner of the Olympic women’s 100m final, St Lucia’s sprint queen Julien Alfred has secured a spot as one of the two finalists for the Women’s Track Athlete of the Year award.

Alfred will compete for the title against American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who broke her own world record to secure her second consecutive Olympic gold in the 400m hurdles.

Alfred, 23, made history at the Paris Games, becoming St Lucia’s first Olympic medalist with gold in the 100m and silver in the 200m.

A total of 11 Olympic champions made the shortlist for the prestigious awards.

The list of finalists from the worlds of track, field, and road also includes Paris 2024 pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis and Olympic marathon champion Sifan Hassan.

Duplantis of Sweden and Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou, who copped gold in the long jump at the Olympics, will vie for the Men’s Field Athlete of the Year.

The Swede broke his own pole vault world record not once but three times this year, raising the bar from 6.23m to 6.26m via Xiamen, the Olympic Games final in Paris, and Chorzów. It’s been a strong year from Duplantis, who holds the top eight clearances of 2024 and recently got engaged to girlfriend Desiré Inglander.

Now a two-time Olympic champion, Tentoglou also added world indoor gold to his collection back in March. The Greek long jumper is also the world leader, having soared to 8.65m at the European Championships.

Hasan of the Netherlands and Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya , have been nominated for the Women’s Out-of-Stadium Athlete of the Year, while Brian Pintado of Ecuador, the Olympic 20km race walk champion, and Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, the Olympic marathon champion, will vie for the men’s equivalent.

A public vote will be held between November 4-10 to choose the Athletes of the Year winners in each category and the overall winners.

The winners will be revealed at a ceremony in Monaco on Sunday, December 1 as part of the World Athletics Awards 2024.

World Athletics 2024 Athletes of the Year finalists

Women’s track athlete of the year

Julien Alfred (St Lucia)

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA)

Men’s track athlete of the year

Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Noway)

Letsile Tebogo (Botswana)

Women’s field athlete of the year

Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine)

Nafissatou Thiam (Belgium)