Kenyan top athletics duo nominated for 2026 World Athlete of the Year

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 6 – Kenya’s long-distance runners Sabastian Sawe and Agnes Ngetich have been shortlisted for the 2026 men’s and women’s World Athlete of the Year, respectively. World Athletics on Tuesday announced the 20 nominees ahead of the World Athletics Awards taking place in Monaco November 27. Sawe, who wrote history as the first man to run a marathon under 2 hours in a competitive race, set a new World Record of 1:59:30 at the London Marathon. Sawe will face stiff competition from among others Swedish star Mondo Duplantis, who improved his world pole vault record to 6.31m and wo...

World Athletics on Tuesday announced the 20 nominees ahead of the World Athletics Awards taking place in Monaco November 27.

Sawe, who wrote history as the first man to run a marathon under 2 hours in a competitive race, set a new World Record of 1:59:30 at the London Marathon.

Sawe will face stiff competition from among others Swedish star Mondo Duplantis, who improved his world pole vault record to 6.31m and won the Ultimate, world indoor and European titles.

In the corresponding women’s awards, Ngetich won the world half marathon title by 50 seconds in a women-only world record of 1:05:15 and won the world cross-country title by 42 seconds. She ran world leads of 8:08.95 for 3000m and 28:58 for 10km.

Source: Capital FM Sports