The list of candidates for this year’s World Athlete of the Year award was whittled down further this week, with a fistful of Wanda Diamond League champions still in the running.
After several weeks of voting by both the public and a panel of experts, 12 athletes are now in line for six prizes, which include a male and female winner in the categories of track, field and out of stadium.
The 12 finalists include no fewer than five of this year’s Diamond Trophy winners, reaffirming the Diamond League’s status as one of the most important titles in global athletics.
US sprinter Noah Lyles and Kenyan 800m star Emmanuel Wanyonyi go head to head in the race for Men’s Track Athlete of the Year, after both did a Diamond League and World Championship double in 2025.
Wanyonyi defied fierce competition throughout the season in the 800m to claim his third successive series title, while Lyles snagged a record sixth career Diamond Trophy with victory in the 200m at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Zurich in August.
In the Women’s Track Athlete of the Year award, Dutch 400m hurdles star Femke Bol will be up against long-term rival Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
Bol enjoyed another record-breaking season in the Diamond League in 2025, winning a fifth straight title and extending her unbeaten run in the series to an historic 30 races.
Sweden’s pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis will be hoping to pip Mattia Furlani to the Men’s Field Athlete of the Year award after he snagged a fifth straight Diamond Trophy in 2025.
The highlight of Duplantis’ campaign came in Stockholm in June, when he jumped 6.28m to break the world record on home soil for the first time in his career.
Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers faces Tara Davis-Woodhall in the Women’s Field Athlete of the Year award, after she won her first Diamond League title in style in Zurich.
Olyslagers jumped an Oceania record of 2.04m on the first day of the Wanda Diamond League Final to claim her first Diamond Trophy and end Yaroslava Mahuchikh’s three-year hegemony in the women’s high jump.
The public vote for the World Athlete of the Year Awards will remain open until November 9, and the World Athletics Awards will take place on November 30.
About the Wanda Diamond League
The Wanda Diamond League is the elite one-day meeting series in athletics. It comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field, delivering world-class competitions for fans and athletes throughout the outdoor season.
The series provides a unique opportunity for athletes across the full diversity of track and field to compete regularly at the highest level. In 32 different disciplines, athletes compete for points at the 14 series meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day Wanda Diamond League Final.
With events in 13 different countries across four different continents, the Diamond League is one of the most truly global series in world sport.
In 2025, it welcomed 400,000 spectators to some of the planet’s most iconic arenas and was broadcast on television in 170 different countries. It also reached an online fanbase of five million social media followers worldwide, notching up more than one billion impressions and more than 900 million video views across all platforms.
The 2026 Diamond League season will begin in Doha on May 8 and culminate at the two-day series final in Brussels on September 4-5.
