The World Athlete of the Year award is a prize that can be won by athletes participating in events within the sport of

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

organised by

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

(formerly named IAAF), including

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open cou ...

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ...

, and

racewalking Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

. The first edition of awards in 1997, with winners Bulgaria's

high jumper The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

Stefka Kostadinova and Canadian sprinter

Ben Johnson Ben, Benjamin or Benny Johnson may refer to: In sports Association football * Ben Johnson (footballer, born 2000), English footballer * Ben Johnson (soccer) (born 1977), American soccer player Other codes of football *Ben Johnson (Australian foot ...

, had its results annulled. The athletes awarded in 1988 were Americans, namely sprinter

Florence Griffith-Joyner Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith; December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete. She set world records in 1988 for the 100 m and 200 m. During the late 1 ...

and track and field athlete

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996 ...

. Jamaican sprinter

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

is the only athlete, male or female, to win the World Athlete of the Year Awards six times. Russian

pole vaulter Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the My ...

Yelena Isinbayeva Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva ( rus, Елена Гаджиевна Исинбаева, p=jɪˈlʲɛnə gɐˈdʐɨjɪvnə ɪsʲɪnˈbajɪvə; born 3 June 1982) is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 20 ...

and Morocco's

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

Hicham El Guerrouj Hicham El Guerrouj ( ar, هشام الݣروج, Hishām l-Garrūj; ber, ⵀⵉⵛⴰⵎ ⴻⵍ ⴳⴻⵔⵔⵓⵊ, Hisham El Gerruj; born 14 September 1974) is a retired Moroccan middle-distance runner. El Guerrouj is the current world record h ...

have won the main award three times. American track and field athlete

Marion Jones Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track and field athlete and former professional basketball player. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 2000 ...

, sprinter

Sanya Richards-Ross Sanya Richards-Ross (née Richards; born February 26, 1985) is a retired Jamaican-American track and field athlete, who competed internationally for the United States in the 400-meter sprint. Her notable accolades in this event include being th ...

representing the USA, Carl Lewis and other American sprinter Michael Johnson, Ethiopia's long-distance runner

Kenenisa Bekele Kenenisa Bekele ( om, Qananiisaa baqqalaa; am, ቀነኒሳ በቀለ; born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5000-metre and 10000-metre from 2004 (5,000m) and 2005 (10,000m) unti ...

, Kenya's long-distance runner

Eliud Kipchoge Eliud Kipchoge ( ; born 5 November 1984) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized at the 5000 metre distance. Widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner of all time, he is the 2016 and 2020 O ...

, and Swedish pole vaulter

Armand Duplantis Armand Gustav "Mondo" Duplantis (born 10 November 1999) is an American-born Swedish pole vaulter, the current world outdoor and indoor record holder ( and ), the current Olympic and World outdoor and indoor champion, the current European outd ...

have won the award twice each. The Rising Star of the Year award was inaugurated in 2005, when Great Britain's sprinter

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey Harry Leslie Aikines-Aryeetey (pronounced ''Ay-yee-tey'', born 29 August 1988) is an English sprinter. A prodigious junior runner, in 2005 he was named as the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year and the IAAF's Rising Star of the Year afte ...

was awarded. The first woman to be voted was steeplechase specialist,

Ruth Bosibori Ruth Bosibori Nyangau (also written Ruth Bisibori; born 2 January 1988 in Bosiango) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specializes in the 3000 metres steeplechase. Career In July 2007 she became the first All-Africa Games champion in the e ...

of Kenya, in 2007. Belgian

heptathlete A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

Nafissatou Thiam Nafissatou "Nafi" Thiam (; born 19 August 1994) is a Belgian Sport of athletics, athlete specializing in multi-event competition. Thiam is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning the heptathlon event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 and 2020 ...

was the first to receive Rising Star award followed by Athlete of the Year trophy. The other athletes to achieve the feat were Venezuela's

triple jumper The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

Yulimar Rojas Yulimar Rojas Rodríguez (Venezuelan ; also known as Yolimar Rojas; born 21 October 1995) is a Venezuelan athlete who holds the world record for women's triple jump, at . She is the current Olympic champion, a three-time World Champion ( 2017 L ...

, Swedish pole vaulter

, and Norwegian

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

Karsten Warholm Karsten Warholm (; born 28 February 1996) is a Norwegian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres and 400 m hurdles. He’s the world record holder in the latter event. In July 2021, he broke the 29-year-old world record in 400 metres hurdles. ...

. In 2022, American sprinter

Erriyon Knighton Erriyon Knighton (born January 29, 2004)"ATHLETE PR ...

became the first athlete to be crowned Rising Star twice.

Winners

Rising Star winners

References

World Athletes of the Year

. Retrieved on 2021-01-01. {{Athletics awards Sport of athletics awards Awards established in 1988 Most valuable player awards