Soufiane El Bakkali, Kelvin Kiptum (Men), Tigist Assefa, Faith Kipyegon, Gudaf Tsegay (Ladies) are the Africans in the race for the titles of world athletes of the 2023 season.
Voting closed on Saturday October 28 at midnight. Following the voting process, five female and five male finalists will be announced by World Athletics on November 13-14.
Winners will be announced on World Athletics social media platforms on December 11.
Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR)
Soufiane El Bakkali carried his impressive consistency through to 2023, remaining unbeaten in five steeplechase finals and improving his PB to 7:56.68.
After opening his season with a 3000m PB of 7:33.87 at the Diamond League meeting in Doha, the Moroccan 27-year-old took his lifetime best for the 3000m steeplechase from 7:58.15 to 7:56.68 at the Diamond League on home soil in Rabat.
When Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma broke the world record with a 7:52.11 run in Paris in June, El Bakkali wasn’t deterred, and he remained focused on retaining his world title in Budapest. After a win in Stockholm and another in Silesia, El Bakkali did exactly that – beating Girma to a global title again to add a second world crown to a CV that also includes Olympic gold from Tokyo.
He then rounded out his year with another win on the Diamond League circuit, clinching victory in Xiamen.
Kelvin Kiptum (KEN)
When Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum ran 2:01:53 on his marathon debut in Valencia towards the end of 2022, people took note. When he improved to 2:01:25 to win the TCS London Marathon in April, the question no longer seemed to be whether the 23-year-old could break the world record, but when.
The answer: at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on 8 October.
On that day, Kiptum became the first athlete to break 2:01 in a record-eligible marathon, clocking 2:00:35 to take 34 seconds off the world record that had been set by his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge in Berlin last year.
After passing half way in 1:00:48, Kiptum ran a blistering 5km split of 13:51 between 30km and 35km and was on sub-2:01 pace. He continued to speed up and so smashed the world record to claim his second major marathon win of the year.
Despite only having made his marathon debut 10 months ago, Kiptum now has three of the six fastest times in history to his name.
Tigist Assefa (ETH)
Marathon runners naturally compete far less than track and field specialists. So when they do take to the start line, the pressure is on to make their performance – and all of the miles they’ve logged in training – count.
Tigist Assefa did exactly that when she raced at the BMW Berlin Marathon in September. The 29-year-old Ethiopian set out well inside world record pace – and then got quicker. She reached the half-way point in 1:06:20, putting her on course to smash the world record by more than a minute, but there were also no signs of her slowing down.
Following a 31:02 split between 25km and 35km, Assefa’s victory was no longer in doubt. She continued to pick up the pace in the closing stages and she crossed the finish line in 2:11:53, taking more than two minutes off the world record – the biggest single improvement on the women’s marathon world record for 40 years.
Faith Kipyegon (KEN)
Having already established herself as one of the greatest championship middle-distance runners in history, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon showed in 2023 that she is also capable of smashing world records.
At the Diamond League meeting in Florence, in just her second track race of the season, Kipyegon broke the world 1500m record with 3:49.11. In Paris one week later, in just the third 5000m race of her career, Kipyegon broke the world record at that distance. She hadn’t set out with the intention of breaking the record, nor was she on pace to do so for most of the way, but a sensational final kilometre brought her to the finish line in 14:05.20.
Her season was just getting started. One month later, at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco, she smashed the world record for the mile by five seconds, running 4:07.64.
She successfully doubled up at the World Championships, winning the 1500m and 5000m. She also won the shorter event at the Diamond League Final, clocking 3:50.72 – the fifth-fastest time in history.
She capped her season with another global medal, this time bronze in the road mile, at the World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23.
Gudaf Tsegay (ETH)
From the way Gudaf Tsegay started her 2023 campaign, it was clear she was heading for a memorable year.
During the indoor season she raced three times and won on each occasion with world-leading marks. She performances in the mile (4:16.16) and 3000m (8:16.69) moved her to second on the world all-time lists.
She carried her winning momentum into the outdoor season across a range of distances. She won the 1500m in Rabat, the 5000m in London and the 10,000m at Ethiopia’s world trials in Nerja, the latter with a world-leading 29:29.73.
In a dramatic 10,000m final in Budapest, Tsegay came through in the closing stages to take gold. She carried an injury going into the 5000m final and was in contention for most of the way, but faded in the closing stages.
After resting for a few weeks, she rebounded in style at the Diamond League Final in Eugene, smashing Faith Kipyegon’s world record with a stunning 14:00.21.
