Home|Sports|Miller-Uibo nominated for World Women’s Athlete of the YearSports
Sheldon LongleySend an emailOctober 13, 2022 200 3 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
For the second year in a row and the third time in her career, Bahamian track superstar Shaunae Miller-Uibo has been announced as a nominee for the World Athletics Women’s Athlete of the Year.
Miller-Uibo was shortlisted among nine other athletes, each of whom have experienced tremendous success in 2022. Also making the list are world record holder in the women’s 100 meters (m) hurdles Tobi Amusan, of Nigeria, World 100m Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, of Jamaica, her countrywoman and World 200m Champion Shericka Jackson, World Shot Put Champion Chase Ealey, of the United States (US), her countrywoman and world record holder in the women’s 400m hurdles Sydney McLaughlin, World 20-kilometer Race Walk Champion Kimberly García, of Peru, World 1500m Champion Faith Kipyegon, of Kenya, World Indoor High Jump Champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh, of the Ukraine, and world record holder in the women’s triple jump Yulimar Rojas, of Venezuela.
As mentioned, this is Miller-Uibo’s third time being nominated for the prestigious award. She went on to become a finalist in 2018, but eventually fell short to former World and Olympic Champion in the women’s triple jump Caterine Ibargüen, of Colombia.
In a year in which she won another Olympic title in the women’s 400m, Miller-Uibo was nominated again in 2021, but wasn’t among the finalists for the award as she was up against a number of world record holders and a triple Olympic Champion in Elaine Thompson-Herah, of Jamaica.
This year, Miller-Uibo faces tough competition again.
In 2022, the Bahamian became just the second woman, and second athlete, in history to win all of the global titles in an individual event in athletics, joining former great Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva. They have both captured world youth, world junior, world indoor, world outdoor and Olympic titles, in the same event.
Miller-Uibo won the world indoor and outdoor titles in the women’s 400m in 2022, and added the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC)
Championship in her home country. She won the latter in what was her fifth sub-50 second race of the year, in Freeport, Grand Bahama, in August.
Amusan won the World 100m Hurdles title in Eugene, Oregon, USA, setting a new world record of 12.12 seconds in the semifinals. She also won the Diamond League, Commonwealth Games and African titles in 2022.
Fraser-Pryce claimed her fifth world title in the women’s 100m this year and ran under 10.70 seconds in that event an astonishing seven times for the season. She ended the year with a world-leading time of 10.62 seconds. She also won the Diamond League title in that event.
Her compatriot Jackson won the world 200m title, becoming the second-fastest woman of all-time behind world record holder Florence Griffith-Joyner, of the United States. She ran a stunning 21.45 seconds in the world championships final. She also won the Diamond League title in that event.
Ealey won the world shot put title and a silver medal at the World Indoor Championships. She threw a world-leading 20.51m (67’ 3-1/2”) and also won the Diamond League title.
McLaughlin won the world 400m hurdles title in a blazing world record time of 50.68 seconds. That was her second time breaking the world record in 202 as she ran 51.41 seconds at the US Championships. McLaughlin also won a 4x400m relay title at the world championships.
García became Peru’s first-ever world championships medalist, winning the gold medal in Eugene. She won the world 35-kilometer race walk title in a South American record to complete the double, and also won a world race walk team 20-kilometer bronze medal.
Kipyegon won the world 1500m title and the Diamond League title in that event in 2022. Also, she ran a world-leading Kenyan record of 3:50.37 at the Herculis EBS Diamond League Meet, just three tenths of a second off the world record.
Mahuchikh won the world indoor high jump title and was the silver medalist at the world championships. She also won the European title and jumped a world-leading 2.05m (6’ 8-3-4”), equalling her outdoor national best, and coming up just four centimeters short of the world record.
Finally, Rojas won both the indoor and outdoor world titles in the women’s triple jump in 2022, the former in a new world record of 15.74m (51’ 7-3-4”). She also won the Diamond League title in 2022.
This week marks the opening of the voting process for the award which will be handed out during the World Athletics Awards 2022. The 10 women were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.
A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.
The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the World Athletics social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube this week, and a ‘like’ on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.
The World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50 percent of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25 percent of the final result.
Voting for the world athletes of the year closes at midnight on Monday October 31. At the conclusion of the voting process, five women finalists will be announced by World Athletics.
The winner will be revealed on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December.