Neeraj Chopra nominated for Men's World Athlete of the Year

Neeraj Chopra, who won a historic gold medal at the World Championships, has been nominated for Men’s World Athlete of the Year award. Chopra is placed in a tough field of contenders alongside USA’s Ryan Crouser (shot put), Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis (pole vault), Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali (3000m steeplechase), Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen (1500m/mile/5000m), Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum (marathon), Canada’s Pierce LePage (decathlon), USA’s Noah Lyles (100m/200m), Spain’s Alvaro Martin (race walk), Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou (long jump) and Norway’s Karsten Warholm (400m hurdles/400m).

Chopra comes into the voting process on the back of a gold medal finish in Hangzhou with season’s best throw of 88.88m, which is his fourth-best ever. The javelin thrower’s season saw him bag a gold medal at the World Championships in Budapest. He also picked up wins at the Doha Diamond League and Lausanne Diamond League. In the Diamond League final, Neeraj took the silver medal.

Neeraj Chopra’s win in Budapest made him the first Indian to win a gold medal at a World Athletics Championships.

The selection process involves World Athletics Council, World Athletics Family and fans who who can cast their vote via social media. World Athletics Council’s vote will weight for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes will each account for 25% of the decision.

The polling is underway and the five finalists will be named on 13/14 November after the voting process. The winner will be announced by World Athletics on 11 December.

Men’s World Athlete of the Year 2023 nominees: Neeraj Chopra (javelin throw), Ryan Crouser (shot put), Mondo Duplantis (pole vault), Soufiane El Bakkali (3000m steeplechase), Jakob Ingebrigtsen (5000m/1500m/mile), Kelvin Kiptum (marathon), Pierce LePage (decathlon), Noah Lyles (100m/200m), Alvaro Martin (race walk), Miltiadis Tentoglou (long jump), Karsten Warholm (hurdles).