Kipchoge and Ibarguen named athletes of year

MONACO

Kenya’s marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge and Colombian jumper Caterine Ibarguen were honoured as IAAF athletes of the year at athletics’ annual awards ceremony on Nov 4.

Olympic champion Kipchoge shattered the world marathon record by 78 seconds as he completed the Berlin Marathon in two hours, one minute and 39 seconds while Ibarguen was the Diamond League champion in both the long jump and triple jump.

Both athletes are first-time winners of the award.

Kipchoge underlined his status as the world’s most dominant distance runner. The 34-year-old Kenyan won the London Marathon in April in 2:04:17 to finish comfortably ahead of one of the deepest marathon fields in history.

Five months later, he won the Berlin Marathon in 2:01:39 to smash the world record. His time in the German capital was 78 seconds faster than the previous world record, representing the biggest single improvement on a men’s marathon world record since 1967.

He also missed by 26 seconds breaking the magical two-hour barrier when he crossed the line in 2:00.25 in a special race on the Monza circuit in Italy in 2017 that was not eligible for record purposes.

Undefeated champion

Ibarguen, the Olympic champion in the triple jump, was undefeated in eight finals in the event. Her triple jump of 14.96 metres in Rabat was the longest in the world in 2018.

The 34-year-old Colombian also was IAAF Continental Cup and Central American and Caribbean champion in both the long jump and triple jump.

Bahamian sprinter Shaunae Miller-Uibo, British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith, Kenyan steeplechase world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech and Belgian heptathlete Nafissatou Thiam, the 2017 winner, were the other female finalists.

French decathlon world record holder Kevin Mayer, U.S. 60m world record-setter Christian Coleman, Swedish pole vaulter Armand “Mondo” Duplantis and Qatari hurdler Abderrahman Samba were the other finalists for the men’s award.

A three-way voting process determined the shortlists. Votes by IAAF Council members counted for 50 percent of the results with online public votes and ballots by the IAAF Family counting for 25 percent each.