World 1,500 metres champion Timothy Cheruiyot has made the 10-man shortlist for the World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year.
The Kenya Prisons officer ran world-leading 3:28.45 over 1,500m and was undefeated in three races in his speciality.
Cheruiyot faces a herculean task to bag the award with Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei the front runner for the award after a stellar season.
Cheptegei 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.
His Ugandan counterpart Jacob Kiplimo won World Half Marathon title in a championship record of 58:49 and ran a world-leading 7:26.64 over 3,000m—the fastest time in the world since 2007.
Donovan Brazier of the United States of America has also made the cut after running a world-leading 800m times of 1:44.22, North American indoor record and outdoors (1:43.15). He also won all seven of his races over all distances.
World 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm of Norway is also in contention for the coveted award. He has a world-lead of 46.87 in the 400m hurdles, the second fastest performance in history and was undefeated in nine 400m/400m hurdles races. He also set world best of 33.78 in 300m hurdles.
Others in the mix include USA sprint sensation Noah Lyles, who was undefeated in five finals and ran a world leading time of 19.76 over 200m
World javelin bronze medallist Johannes Vetter, of Germany, USA's shot put specialist Ryan Crouser and Swedish duo of Daniel Stahl and Mondo Duplantis also made the cut. A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.
The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email while fans can vote online via the WA social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram this week; a 'like' on Facebook and Instagram or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.
The World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50 per cent of the result while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes will each account for 25 per cent each of the final result. Voting for the World Athletes of the Year closes at midnight on November 15.
