Bol was also not chosen as world athlete of the year overall, like Sifan Hassan last year. That honor also went to McLaughlin-Levrone.
World Athletics holds elections in the categories of running numbers, technical numbers and road distances and an athlete from one of those three categories is chosen as the overall world athlete.
Sifan Hassan
Last year, Hassan was the first Dutch athlete ever to be chosen world athlete of the year on the road and overall. She owed those honorary titles to her gold medal at the Olympic marathon in Paris.
McLaughlin-Levrone was considered Bol’s great rival in the 400 meter hurdles for years. The American won gold at the Tokyo (2021) and Paris (2024) Games. This year she switched to the 400 meters and at that distance she became world champion in 47.78, the second fastest time ever run.
Bol (25) extended her world title in the 400 meter hurdles this year. She also won silver (mixed) and bronze (women) at the World Championships in Tokyo with the relay teams in the 4×400 meters. The Amersfoort native excelled in the Diamond League by winning all her competitions in the 400 meter hurdles, including the final. In October she was chosen as the best European athlete of the year for the third time in her career.
Duplantis in prizes
In the men’s category, the prize went to Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who became world champion in the 800 meters. For the technical numbers, Swedish world pole vault champion Armand Duplantis and high jumper Nicola Olyslagers were chosen. In the road distance category, prizes went to Kenyan Sabastian Sawe, who won the London and Berlin marathons, and Spain’s María Pérez, who won the world titles in the 20 and 35 kilometer race walking.