Genzebe Dibaba, Dafne Schippers and Anita Wlodarczyk are the three women’s finalists for the 2015 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award.
Dibaba won the 1500m title at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015, having broken the world record in the event one month earlier with her time of 3:50.07 in Monaco. The Ethiopian also set a world indoor 5000m record of 14:18.86 and took the bronze medal at that distance at the World Championships.
Schippers clocked a European and championship record of 21.63 to win the 200m title in Beijing to go alongside the silver medal she took in the 100m where she set a Dutch record of 10.81. Earlier in the year, she set a world-leading mark of 7.05 over 60m.
Wlodarczyk was utterly dominant this season in the hammer. The Pole won all 11 of her competitions, including the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015. She also became the first woman to throw beyond 80 metres, setting a world record of 81.08m in Cetniewo in August.
Last month the IAAF Family* was asked to select nine men and nine women from each of the following categories: sprints, hurdles, middle and long distance, road running, race walking, jumps, throws, combined events and multi-terrain.
The top-voted athletes in each category formed the longlist, from which an international panel of 10 experts** selected the three finalists. The men’s finalists will be announced tomorrow.
*IAAF Family: IAAF & IAF Council members; IAAF national member federations; IAAF Committee & Commission members; IAAF meeting directors; IAAF athlete ambassadors; athletes’ representatives; top athletes; members of the international press; IAAF staff members and the IAAF’s official partners
**The international panel of athletics experts includes representatives from all six continental areas of the IAAF
