The candidates for the World Athletics track athlete of the year award was released this week, with the stars of the 2025 Wanda Diamond League dominating the list of nominees.
Five of this season’s Wanda Diamond League champions are in line for the award, while every single nominee recorded at least one victory at a Diamond League meeting during the course of the season.
In the list for the men’s award, four of the five nominees ended this season as Wanda Diamond League champion.
US sprint star Noah Lyles claimed his sixth Diamond League title in the men’s 200m this year, becoming the most successful track athlete in the series’ history.
Kenyan 800m ace Emmanuel Wanyonyi claimed his third Diamond Trophy, notching up five wins in seven races in one of the sport’s most competitive disciplines.
Cordell Tinch also claimed five victories en route to the 110m hurdles title, in a blistering Diamond League campaign which set the tone for his first ever major gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
French distance star Jimmy Gressier was another first time winner, claiming a sensational victory in the Wanda Diamond League Final in Zurich just weeks after breaking the French 3000m record at his home Diamond League meeting in Paris.
400m hurdles star Rai Benjamin, who set back-to-back meeting records in Stockholm and Paris in mid-season, is also nominated.
The five nominees for the women’s award also dominated in the Diamond League in 2025, notching up 17 victories between them on athletics’ premier one-day circuit this year.
Femke Bol stormed to her fifth successive Diamond League title in the women’s 400m hurdles, extending her astonishing unbeaten run in the series to 30 consecutive races.
Kenyan distance star Beatrice Chebet enjoyed an imperious first half of the season with world leads in Xiamen, Rabat and Rome, before breaking the 5000m world record of 13:58.06 in Eugene.
Her compatriot Faith Kipyegon also broke the world record at the US Diamond League meeting, smashing her own previous best with 3:48.68 in one of her three Diamond League wins of the season.
Eugene also saw a Diamond League victory for 400m hurdles world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who clocked a season’s best of 49.43 in the 400m flat en route to her world title in Tokyo.
100m world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, meanwhile, warmed up for her world title with a string of superb Diamond League victories in Eugene, Silesia and Brussels.
The vote to determine the Track Athlete of the Year finalists is now open on World Athletics social media platforms. It will close on 19 October.
