MOSCOW, October 1 (R-Sport) – Russian long jumper Alexander Menkov will battle fellow world champions Usain Bolt and Mo Farah for the athlete of the year award as the International Association of Athletics Federations announced the 10-man list of nominees on Tuesday.
Menkov, 22, won the European indoor championships in Gothenburg before claiming his first world title on home soil in Moscow in August. He dominated the field, setting a national record at 8.56 meters to beat second-placed Ignisious Gaisah by a whopping 27 centimeters.
But Menkov will face stiff competition from four-time winner Bolt, who took home three sprint golds in Moscow, and Farah who repeated his London Olympic triumph with victory in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.
The other nominees are Ethiopia's Mohammed Aman (800m), Ukrainian high jumper Bohdan Bondarenko, US decathlete Ashton Eaton, German discus thrower Robert Harting, Kenyan marathon runner Wilson Kipsang, 400m runner LaShawn Merritt, and US triple jumper Teddy Tamgho.
Kipsang skipped the worlds but won both the New York and Berlin marathons this year.
The women’s list includes Svetlana Shkolina, a Russian high jumper who beat London Olympic champion Anna Chicherova and US rising star Brigetta Barrett in the Russian capital with a personal best of 2.03 meters.
But to win, Shkolina must beat the clear favorite, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, who matched Bolt's haul of three Moscow sprint golds.
The nominees will be cut to three of each sex on October 27 and then the council of the International Athletics Foundation will announce the winners on November 16.
Men’s list:
Mohammed Aman (middle distance), Usain Bolt (sprint), Bohdan Bondarenko (high jump), Ashton Eaton (decathlon), Mohamed Farah (long distance), Robert Harting (discus), Wilson Kipsang (marathon), Alexander Menkov (long jump), LaShawn Merritt (sprint), Teddy Tamgho (triple jump).
Women’s list:
Valerie Adams (shot put), Abeba Aregawi (middle distance), Meseret Defar (long distance), Tirunesh Dibaba (long distance), Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (sprint), Zuzana Hejnova (javelin), Caterine Ibarguen (triple jump), Sandra Perkovic (discus), Brianna Rollins (hurdles), Svetlana Shkolina (high jump).
