World Athletics Athlete of the Year 2026: Women’s Nominees and How to Vote

Marvellous Ordia

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Masai Russell, a nominee for World Athletics Athlete of the Year, on a victory lap — Masai Russell on a victory lap at Weltklasse Zürich in the Diamond League, August 2026. Photo: Quejaytee / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

World Athletics has named 10 women on its shortlist for the World Athletics Athlete of the Year award for 2026, including Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich, Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa and world record holder Masai Russell. Fans can vote until 17 October, with the winners announced at the World Athletics Awards in Monaco on 29 November, NBC Sports reported. Women’s world records fell this year in the marathon, half marathon, race walk and 100m hurdles.

In addition, World Athletics nominated 10 men, including Mondo Duplantis, who won the men’s award in 2025.

World Athletics Athlete of the Year 2026: Women’s Nominees

Below is the full women’s shortlist, as listed by The Sports Encounter, is:

Tigst Assefa (Ethiopia), marathon: 2:11:04 in Berlin and a 2:15:41 women-only world record in London
Chase Jackson (USA), shot put: world indoor and Diamond League titles, North American record of 21.14m
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (USA), sprints: 100m–200m double at the Ultimate Championship
Agnes Ngetich (Kenya), distance running: world cross-country and half-marathon champion
Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic), 400m: unbeaten season and world-leading 48.48
María Pérez (Spain), race walk: 1:30:06 in the first half-marathon race walk world record
Camryn Rogers (Canada), hammer: North American record of 81.13m
Masai Russell (USA), 100m hurdles: 12.09 world record and an unbeaten season
Audrey Werro (Switzerland), 800m: Ultimate Championship, Diamond League and European titles
Yan Ziyi (China), javelin: 71.74m Asian and world under-20 record

Africa’s Contenders: Agnes Ngetich and Tigst Assefa

Agnes Ngetich in the 10,000m final at the World Championships in Budapest, August 2023 (archive). Photo: Filip Bossuyt / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

First, Ngetich had a season of historic performances, Pulse Sports Kenya reported. As well as winning world titles in cross-country and the half marathon, she ran a 1:05:15 women-only world record over the half-marathon distance.

Assefa, meanwhile, set the women’s marathon world record this year, Yahoo Sports reported. Her 2:11:04 in Berlin headlined a remarkable year for women’s road running.

Masai Russell Leads the American Challenge

Meanwhile, three of the 10 women are American. Russell went unbeaten in the 100m hurdles and lowered the world record to 12.09 seconds, Pulse Sports reported.

Jefferson-Wooden won the 100m and 200m double at the new Ultimate Championship, while Jackson broke the North American shot put record twice. In addition, the men’s list includes Americans Kenny Bednarek and Ja’Kobe Tharp, NBC Sports noted.

How to Vote for World Athletics Athlete of the Year

The voting is split four ways, with each group counting for 25% of the result, according to NBC Sports:

Fans: vote through a World Athletics survey
Athletes: a vote among athletes
Media: accredited media members
World Athletics family: the wider World Athletics family

Overall, voting closes at 6pm ET on 17 October (11pm BST and WAT). Three women and three men will then be named as finalists on 10–11 November.

Who Won in 2025?

The 2025 women’s award went to the United States’ Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who took the 2026 season off, NBC Sports reported. Duplantis won the men’s award and is nominated again.

Finally, several of this year’s nominees starred at the Budapest Ultimate Championship. Read our reports on Saly Sarr’s triple jump title and Jasmine Jones’ win in Budapest, or see how scoring works in our Diamond League points explainer.