# World Athletics Awards

The World Athletics Awards are annual awards to honor athletes participating in events within the sport of athletics. These are organised by World Athletics and include track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking.
The first athletes awarded World Athlete of the Year in 1988 were Americans, namely sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner and track and field athlete Carl Lewis.
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is the only athlete to win the World Athlete of the Year Awards six times. Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and Morocco's middle-distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj have won the main award three times. Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis has also won the award three times including the inaugural World Athlete of the Year (Men's Field) award in 2023 after World Athletics Awards changed from crowning a sole male and female winner to issuing awards across six categories. American track and field athlete Marion Jones, sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross representing the USA, Carl Lewis and other American sprinter Michael Johnson, Ethiopia's long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele, Kenya's long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge and Venezuela's triple-jumper Yulima Rojas have won the award twice each.
The Rising Star of the Year award was inaugurated in 1998, when Great Britain's sprinter Christian Malcolm was awarded. The first woman to be voted was 400 m and 400 m H specialist, Jana Pittman of Australia, in 2000.
Ethiopian long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele was the first to receive Rising Star award followed by Athlete of the Year trophy in 2003 and 2004 respectively. The other athletes to achieve the feat were Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, American sprinter Allyson Felix, Belgian heptathlete Nafissatou Thiam, Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas, American hurdler and sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levron, Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, and Norwegian hurdler Karsten Warholm. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and American sprinter Erriyon Knighton are the only two athletes to be crowned Rising Star twice.

## Changes to awards system

In 2003, the International Fair Play Committee (CIFP) first collaborated with World Athletics to look for moments that epitomise fair play during biennial World Athletics Championships with a view to recognising one athlete or moment with the CIFP Fair Play award. In earlier years of the award, the nomination pool included track & filed athletes who had then retired but had made a lasting name for themselves both as competitors as well as in their daily lives. In 2023, the partnership expanded the nomination period for award consideration beyond just the World Athletics Championships to include all World Athletics Series events and Continental Tour series events throughout the course of the year to enrich the pool of eligible athletes and potential nominations.
In 2009, on the recommendation of IAAF Press Commission, the IAAF World Journalist Award was created to mark outstanding lifetime contributions in the field of athletics journalism. Germany’s Gustav Schwenk was the first recipient of this award. The award was last given out in 2015.
In 2015, World Athletics (then IAAF) together with their sponsor Adidas launched the Golden Shoe award to recognise the Best Performer of the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015. The award went to Almaz Ayana (ETH). 2015 was the singular year the Golden Shoe Award was presented by Adidas. Following the doping crisis sweeping the sport and implicating World Athletics directly, Adidas decided to terminate their sponsorship deal with World Athletics three years earlier ending in 2016 instead of 2019.
In 2020, three new awards were created amongst the eight given out at the annual World Athletics Awards ceremony to commemorate the challenges faced by athletes, event organisers and their support groups in the wake of the Covid-19 pandamic. The new honours were namely Covid inspiration award, athletes community award and member federations award.
In 2023, the World Athlete of the Year awards for men and women were expanded into three event categories: track, field, and out of stadium.
In 2024, World Athletics further revamped the World Athletics Awards system. Besides the three separate World Athlete of the Year awards for each gender, there will also be men’s and women’s awards for an "overall World Athlete of the Year". Two finalists in each of the three category will progress to be considered for the overall World Athlete of the Year awards.
The system for selecting the winner for 2024 had also changed. As before, a three-way voting process with votes from the World Athletics Council (50%), World Athletics Family (25%) and the public via social media (25%) determined the finalists. However, a final round of voting cast by fans of the sport decided the overall World Athlete of the Year once the finalists had been established.
Letsile Tebogo and Sifan Hassan were the first men's and women's recipients of this overall winner awards in 2024. Each of them won two awards. Besides the overall award, they won the Athlete of the Year award for their event category too: Tebego was voted the Men's Track Athlete of the Year and Hassan was the winner of the Women's Out of Stadium Athlete of the Year award.

### Annual awards

As of 2024, the World Athletics Awards included the World Athlete of the Year awards, Rising Star awards, Coaching Achievement Award, Woman of the Year, Photograph of the Year, Member Federation Award, President’s Award and CIFP Fair Play award. The CIFP Fair Play award, previously a biennial award given out after each World Athletics Championships, became an annual award after the expansion of nomination period in 2023.

### Occasional awards

Awards that were given out on occasion when there are deserving nominees included the Lifetime Achievement awards (various types including those for athletes & coaches), Inspiration awards, World Athletics City award, Distinguished Career awards and Master Athlete of the Year awards.

### Past awards

Past awards that had been discontinued included Performance of the Year awards, World Journalist awards and Journalist Lifetime Achievement award.

### Special awards

Special awards were given out in the past to honor the outstanding achievements of an athlete and/or to commemorate a special milestone in the history of the sport. These included the historic Athlete of the 20th Century awards (1999), an award to mark 80 Years of Women Athletes at the Olympics Games (2008) and the Special Olympic awards given out after the Beijing Games (2008).

## Athlete of the Year winners

World Athlete of the Year winners :
| Year | Men | Women |
| 1988 | Carl Lewis (1/2) | Florence Griffith Joyner |
| 1989 | Roger Kingdom | Ana Fidelia Quirot |
| 1990 | Steve Backley | Merlene Ottey |
| 1991 | Carl Lewis (2/2) | Katrin Krabbe |
| 1992 | Kevin Young | Heike Henkel |
| 1993 | Colin Jackson | Sally Gunnell |
| 1994 | Noureddine Morceli | Jackie Joyner-Kersee |
| 1995 | Jonathan Edwards | Gwen Torrence |
| 1996 | Michael Johnson (1/2) | Svetlana Masterkova |
| 1997 | Wilson Kipketer | Marion Jones (1/2) |
| 1998 | Haile Gebrselassie | Marion Jones (2/2) |
| 1999 | Michael Johnson (2/2) | Gabriela Szabo |
| 2000 | Jan Železný | Marion Jones |
| 2001 | Hicham El Guerrouj (1/3) | Stacy Dragila |
| 2002 | Hicham El Guerrouj (2/3) | Paula Radcliffe |
| 2003 | Hicham El Guerrouj (3/3) | Hestrie Cloete |
| 2004 | Kenenisa Bekele (1/2) | Yelena Isinbayeva (1/3) |
| 2005 | Kenenisa Bekele (2/2) | Yelena Isinbayeva (2/3) |
| 2006 | Asafa Powell | Sanya Richards (1/2) |
| 2007 | Tyson Gay | Meseret Defar |
| 2008 | Usain Bolt (1/6) | Yelena Isinbayeva (3/3) |
| 2009 | Usain Bolt (2/6) | Sanya Richards (2/2) |
| 2010 | David Rudisha | Blanka Vlašić |
| 2011 | Usain Bolt (3/6) | Sally Pearson |
| 2012 | Usain Bolt (4/6) | Allyson Felix |
| 2013 | Usain Bolt (5/6) | Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce |
| 2014 | Renaud Lavillenie | Valerie Adams |
| 2015 | Ashton Eaton | Genzebe Dibaba |
| 2016 | Usain Bolt (6/6) | Almaz Ayana |
| 2017 | Mutaz Essa Barshim | Nafissatou Thiam |
| 2018 | Eliud Kipchoge (1/2) | Caterine Ibargüen |
| 2019 | Eliud Kipchoge (2/2) | Dalilah Muhammad |
| 2020 | Armand Duplantis (1/3) | Yulimar Rojas (1/2) |
| 2021 | Karsten Warholm | Elaine Thompson-Herah |
| 2022 | Armand Duplantis (2/3) | Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone |
| 2023 | Track: Noah Lyles Field: Armand Duplantis (3/3) Out of stadia: Kelvin Kiptum | Track: Faith Kipyegon Field: Yulimar Rojas (2/2) Out of stadia: Tigist Assefa |
| 2024 | Letsile Tebogo | Sifan Hassan |
Won per country
Awards won per country :
| Country | Awards |
| United States | 20 |
| Jamaica | 10 |
| Ethiopia | 7 |
| Kenya | 5 |
| United Kingdom | 5 |
| Russia | 4 |
| Morocco | 3 |
| Sweden | 3 |
| Germany | 2 |
| Venezuela | 2 |
| Algeria | 1 |
| Australia | 1 |
| Belgium | 1 |
| Botswana | 1 |
| Colombia | 1 |
| Croatia | 1 |
| Cuba | 1 |
| Czech Republic | 1 |
| Denmark | 1 |
| France | 1 |
| Netherlands | 1 |
| New Zealand | 1 |
| Norway | 1 |
| Qatar | 1 |
| Romania | 1 |
| South Africa | 1 |
Track, Field & Out of stadium Athlete of the Year winners :
| Year | Men's Track | Men's Field | Men's Out of stadium | Women's Track | Women's Field | Women's Out of stadium | Ref. |
| 2024 | Letsile Tebogo | Armand Duplantis | Tamirat Tola | Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone | Yaroslava Mahuchikh | Sifan Hassan | |

## Rising Star winners

The Rising Star of the Year award for the best under-20 athlete was introduced by World Athletics in 1998. In 2008, the award was presented as "Revelation of the Year Award".
Rising Star of the Year winners :
| Year | Men | Women |
| 1998 | Christian Malcolm | – |
| 1999 | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2000 | Hamdan Al-Bishi | Jana Pittman |
| 2001 | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2002 | Usain Bolt (1/2) | Carolina Kluft |
| 2003 | Usain Bolt (2/2) Kenenisa Bekele Eliud Kipchoge | Allyson Felix Tirunesh Dibaba |
| 2004 | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2005 | Harry Aikines-Aryeetey | – |
| 2006 | Margus Hunt | – |
| 2007 | – | Ruth Bosibori |
| 2008 | – | Pamela Jelimo |
| 2009 | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2010 | Till Wöschler | Angelica Bengtsson |
| 2011 | Kirani James | Christin Hussong |
| 2012 | Keshorn Walcott | Anthonique Strachan |
| 2013 | – | Mary Cain |
| 2014 | Wilhem Belocian | Morgan Lake |
| 2015 | Abdul Hakim Sani Brown | Candace Hill |
| 2016 | Andre De Grasse | Nafissatou Thiam |
| 2017 | Karsten Warholm | Yulimar Rojas |
| 2018 | Armand Duplantis | Sydney McLaughlin |
| 2019 | Selemon Barega | Yaroslava Mahuchikh |
| 2020 | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2021 | Erriyon Knighton (1/2) | Athing Mu |
| 2022 | Erriyon Knighton (2/2) | Adriana Vilagoš |
| 2023 | Emmanuel Wanyonyi | Faith Cherotich |
| 2024 | Mattia Furlani | Sembo Almayew |
Won per country
Awards won per country :
| Country | Awards |
| United States | 7 |
| Kenya | 5 |
| Ethiopia | 4 |
| United Kingdom | 3 |
| Sweden | 3 |
| Germany | 2 |
| Jamaica | 2 |
| Australia | 1 |
| Bahamas | 1 |
| Belgium | 1 |
| Canada | 1 |
| Estonia | 1 |
| France | 1 |
| Grenada | 1 |
| Italy | 1 |
| Japan | 1 |
| Norway | 1 |
| Saudi Arabia | 1 |
| Serbia | 1 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 1 |
| Ukraine | 1 |
| Venezuela | 1 |

## Fair Play award winners

The Fair Play award was introduced in 2003 by World Athletics in partnership with CIFP. Initially, the award was presented near the end of a World Championships edition but since 2019, it was part of the World Athletics Awards.
* 2003 - Johnathan Edwards (GBR)
* 2005 - Frank Fredericks (NAM) & Heike Drechsler (GER)
* 2007 - Mike Powell (USA)
* 2009 - Lars Riedel (GER)
* 2011 - Koji Murofushi (JPN)
* 2013 - Igor Ter-Ovanesyan (USSR)
* 2015 - To be added
* 2017 - Ruth Beitia (ESP)
Beitia was recognised for her efforts to console Alessia Trost of Italy after she failed to qualify for the final in the women's high jump at the IAAF World Championships London 2017. It was an emotional moment for the 24-year-old Trost, whose mother and former coach passed away in the last year.
* 2019 - Braima Suncar Dabó (GBS)
Dabo, a distance runner from Guinea-Bissau, made headlines around the world after he helped fellow runner, Jonathan Busby of Aruba, to the finish line during their opening round heat of the 5000m at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Busby was near collapse with about 200 metres left in the race, when Dabo stopped to help his distressed fellow competitor.
* 2022 - Katie Nageotte (USA) & Holly Bradshaw (GBR)
In Oregon, at 2022 World Athletics Championships, Bradshaw injured herself after her pole snapped during the pole vault warm-up session. Her fellow competitor Nageotte immediately went over to support her. Bradshaw received a lot of abuse on social media for withdrawing from the competition, but Nageotte again offered support by taking to Twitter in defence of her competitor.
* 2023 - Letesenbet Gidey (ETH)
Gidey’s fair play moment occurred at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23. After securing silver in the women’s 10,000m, Gidey went back to comfort Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan after Hassan’s dramatic fall on the home straight.
* 2024 - Sander Skotheim (NOR)
At Paris 2024, despite the disappointment of no-heighting in the pole vault and losing contention for a decathlon medal, Skotheim's continued to compete and unselfishly supported his compatriot Markus Rooth in the final discipline – the 1500m. Rooth eventually clinched the Olympic gold for Norway by 48 points.

## Coaching Achievement award winners

The award was first presented in 2006 and had several variation before its current name:
* Coach of the Year Award or Coaches Award (2006 - 2007, 2009 - 2010)
* Coaching Lifetime Achievement Award (2011 & 2012)
* Coaching Achievement Award (2013 - present).
Coaching Achievement award winners :
| Year | Winner |
| 2006 | Woldemeskel Kostre |
| 2007 | Vitaly Petrov |
| 2008 | Not awarded |
| 2009 | Clyde Hart |
| 2010 | Santiago Antúnez |
| 2011 | John Velzian |
| 2012 | Glen Mills |
| 2013 | Alberto Salazar |
| 2014 | Tom Tellez |
| 2015 | Bart Bennema |
| 2016 | Harry Marra |
| 2017 | Anna Botha |
| 2018 | Joe Vigil |
| 2019 | Colm O'Connell |
| 2020 | Helena and Greg Duplantis |
| 2021 | Bobby Kersee |
| 2022 | Gennadii Zuiev |
| 2023 | Laurent Meuwly |
| 2024 | Trevor Painter |

## Inspiration award winners

The Inspiration award was first given out in 2000. It recognises an individual or group of individuals whose efforts have resulted in a particularly inspiring athletics event or experience.
* Years Awarded
** 2000 - Cathy Freeman (AUS)
** 2007 - Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) & Paula Radcliffe (GBR)
** 2008 - Henry Rono (KEN)
** 2012 - Aries Merritt (USA)
** 2020 - Ultimate Garden Clash, an original idea by Renaud Lavillenie (FRA)
** 2021 - Mutaz Barshim (QAT) & Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA)
* Years Not Awarded
** 2001 to 2006
** 2009 to 2011
** 2013 to 2020
** 2022 to 2024

## Woman of the Year winners

The award started out in 2014 as "Women in Athletics Award" before it was changed by World Athletics in 2019 to "Women of the Year Award".
Woman of the Year winners :
| Year | Women |
| 2014 | Evie Garrett Dennis |
| 2015 | Not awarded |
| 2016 | Polyxeni Argeitak |
| 2017 | Cherry Alexander |
| 2018 | Evelyn Claudio Lopez |
| 2019 | Derartu Tulu |
| 2020 | Not awarded |
| 2021 | Anju Bobby George |
| 2022 | Donna Fraser |
| 2023 | Falilatou Tchanile-Salifou |
| 2024 | Renee Washington |

## President's award winners

The President's award was inaugurated in 2016 during the tenure of Sebastian Coe, President of World Athletics (2015 - present) to recognise and honour exceptional service to athletics.
* 2016 - Tegla Loroupe (KEN)
* 2017 - Usain Bolt (JAM)
* 2018 - Andreas Brugger (SUI)
* 2019 - Vikki Orvice (GBR)
* 2020 - Tommie Smith (USA), Peter Norman (AUS) and John Carlos (USA)
* 2021 - Peter Diamond (USA)
* 2022 - Ukrainian Athletic Federation
* 2023 - Abbott World Marathon Majors
* 2024 - Phil Knight (USA)

## Photograph of the Year winners

The World Athletics Photograph of the Year was first awarded in 2017.
Photograph of the Year winners :
| Year | Winner (organisation) |
| 2017 | Paul Sanwell (freelance) |
| 2018 | Felix Sanchez Arrazola (freelance) |
| 2019 | Felix Sanchez Arrazola (freelance) |
| 2020 | Michael Steele (Getty Images) |
| 2021 | Ryan Pierse (Getty Images) |
| 2022 | Martin Rickett (PA Media) |
| 2023 | Mattia Ozbot (freelance) |
| 2024 | Michael Steele (Getty Images) |

## Member Federation award winners

The Member Federation award was inaugurated in 2020.
Member Federation award winners :
| Year | Winner |
| 2020 | Polish Athletics Association |
| 2021 | Costa Rican Athletics Federation |
| 2022 | Brazilian Athletics Confederation |
| 2023 | Athletics Australia |
| 2024 | USA Track & Field |