Photo: Dafne Schippers and Usain Bolt (Getty Images)
The revelation of the candidate list for Track and Field top award sees Jamaica’s Usain Bolt leading as the top selected male athlete after amassing most votes in the sprints category in the first round of voting for the 2015 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award.
The nations females had no such favor in the sprint category as Dutch woman Dafne Schippers leads the list. with the highest amount of votes.
The nine men and nine women who will vie for the coveted title later this month were selected from the following categories: sprints, hurdles, middle and long distance, road running, race walking, jumps, throws, combined events and multi-terrain.
The naming of the 2015 winners of the respective genders will take place at the annual IAAF World Athletics Gala in Moscow on Saturday, 28th November.
The number however will be narrowed down to three finalists for each gender by a select panel of ten expert personnel before the date of the ceremony.
The names of those selected will be announced on the 17th &18th of November and the winners will come from those finalist. The awards is in its 27th year of existence.
The World record holder three times double and twice Olympic double sprint champion Usain Bolt have won the title five times since his exploits at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
He will be hoping to secure his sixth award, for which his sprint rival American Justin Gatlin is not eligible for nomination or selection.
The World Championship 200 metre champion Schippers is expected to face a challenge from triple time World 100m champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who will look capture her second award after her 2013 triumph. Merlene Ottey and Asafa Powell are the other Jamaican athletes to cop the the prestigious award.
The 2014 female and male awards were won by New Zealand’s Valrie Adams and Frenchman Renaud Lavillene respectively.
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