Mondo Duplantis is again the reference point. The Swede has spent years rewriting the pole-vault world record in public, and any vote that rewards the clearest dominance in a single event still starts with him. The rest of the shortlist is the argument against a routine coronation.
The nominees
- Rumesh Pathirage (Sri Lanka) — javelin
- Sabastian Sawe (Kenya) — marathon
- Ja’Kobe Tharp (United States) — 110 metres hurdles
- Kenny Bednarek (United States) — 100 metres and 200 metres
- Collen Kebinatshipi (Botswana) — 400 metres
- Mondo Duplantis (Sweden) — pole vault
- Kristjan Čeh (Slovenia) — discus
- Alison dos Santos (Brazil) — 400 metres hurdles
- Andy Díaz Hernández (Italy) — triple jump
- Josh Kerr (Britain) — 1500 metres and the mile
Sawe carries the marathon, the event that still reaches the widest audience outside a global championship. Kebinatshipi gives Africa a one-lap contender from Botswana, a country that has already produced world-level 400 metres running. Bednarek is in for both the 100 and the 200, the races that decide how a season is remembered. Kerr is the British distance nominee in a mile and 1500 metres that have again been crowded.
Dos Santos is the hurdles name, a comeback story as much as a form story. Čeh has been the most consistent big thrower in the discus. Pathirage is the outlier: a Sri Lankan javelin thrower on a prize that rarely leaves the traditional powers. Tharp represents the American sprint-hurdle lane. Díaz Hernández, Olympic bronze medallist in Paris, is the horizontal-jumps nominee.
If the award is for the athlete who was simply the best at his event, again, Duplantis is the winner. If it is for the season that changed a discipline’s map, Sawe, Kebinatshipi and Bednarek are the names that can take votes off him. The shortlist is not a surprise. It is a real argument.