St. Lucia’s sprint sensation, Julien Alfred, has been named a finalist for the highly esteemed Women’s Track Athlete of the Year award, where she will compete against American Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone for the title.
Alfred, 23, made history at the Paris Olympics earlier this year by securing gold in the women’s 100 meters and silver in the 200 meters, marking her as the first athlete from St. Lucia to reach the Olympic podium. Now, she faces a formidable rival in McLaughlin-Levrone, the United States’ Olympic 400-meter hurdles gold medalist, as they both vie for the top honor in women’s track.
On the men’s side, Norwegian distance star Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Botswana’s sprint champion Letsile Tebogo have emerged as the finalists for Men’s Track Athlete of the Year. Ingebrigtsen clinched gold in the 5000 meters in Paris, while Tebogo captured headlines by winning gold in the 200 meters, defeating a highly competitive field.
Other categories
Other categories include Women’s Field Athlete of the Year, where Ukraine’s high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Belgium’s heptathlon star Nafissatou Thiam will contend for the honor. The men’s field category sees Sweden’s Olympic pole vault champion, Mondo Duplantis, up against Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou, who earned gold in the long jump.
In the out-of-stadium categories, Ecuador’s Brian Pintado, who took gold in the Olympic 20km race walk, and Ethiopia’s marathon champion Tamirat Tola are nominated for Men’s Out-of-Stadium Athlete of the Year. Meanwhile, Kenyan marathoner Ruth Chepngetich and the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan will compete for the women’s equivalent.
The voting process, which will conclude on November 10, will determine the winners, who will be announced at the World Athletics Awards 2024 ceremony in Monaco on December 1.
