World Athletics announces finalists for Male World Athlete of the Year 2020

World Athletics on Monday announced the names of the five finalists for the Male World Athlete of the Year 2020.

In spite of the many challenges presented by the global Covid-19 pandemic this year, the five athletes, who represent five countries and three area associations, have excelled, producing brilliant performances across nearly all athletics disciplines in 2020.

The finalists are:

Joshua Cheptegei, Uganda: Cheptegei broke world records at 5000m (12:35.36), 10,000m (26:11.00) and 5km on the roads (12:51). He was fourth at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships on his debut over the distance.

Ryan Crouser, USA: Crouser was undefeated in 10 shot put competitions. His 22.91 m world-leading performance moved him to equal third on the world all-time list.

Mondo Duplantis, Sweden: Duplantis broke the world record in the pole vault twice (6.17m and 6.18m) and produced the highest outdoor vault of all time (6.15m). He was undefeated in 16 competitions.

Johannes Vetter, Germany: Vetter won eight of his nine javelin competitions. He threw a world-leading 97.76m, the second farthest throw in history.

Karsten Warholm, Norway: Warholm ran a world-leading 46.87 in the 400m hurdles, the second-fastest performance in history. He remained undefeated in nine 400m/400m hurdles races and set the world's best of 33.78 in 300m hurdles.

The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2020 to be staged as a virtual event on December 5 and streamed live on the World Athletics YouTube channel, its Facebook page and via Twitter.

The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans voted online via social media platforms. The Council's vote counted for 50 per cent of the result, while the Athletics Family's votes and the public votes each counted for 25 per cent of the final result.

Voting for the Male World Athlete of the Year closed on November 15.

( With inputs from ANI )