Bolt, Blake make shortlist for Athlete-of-the-Year award
Dynamic Jamaican sprint duo of Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake are the only two Caribbean track stars that made the shortlist for the IAAF Athlete-of-the-Year awards.
Compatriot Veronica Campbell-Brown, the women’s World 200 metres champion, and mens World 400m champion Kirani James of Grenada, two other leading candidates, missed out on consideration for the awards.
In a release Friday, the IAAF announced that Bolt, Blake and Kenyan distance runner David Rudisha were the three athletes to be considered for the men’s award, while shot-putt World champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand, distance runner Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya and World 100 hurdles champion Sally Pearson of Australia are the women’s candidates.
Bolt was unbeaten in the 200 this season and won the event at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, in 19.40, his third fastest time ever. He also had the fastest time of 9.76 over the 100 this season.
Blake became the youngest ever World 100 champion at age 21 when he dashed 9.92 seconds in Daegu, after raging hot favourite Bolt stunningly false-started for the first time in his professional career.
Blake later ran a stunning 19.26 in his final race of the season for the second fastest 200 of all time, behind Bolt’s World record of 19.19.
Both Blake and Bolt, along with Nesta Carter and Michael Frater carried Jamaica to the men’s 4x100 World record of 37.04 in Daegu.
Rudisha continued his impressive form in the 800 metres, winning the gold medal at the World Championships.
Adams, Cheruiyot and Pearson also won their events in Daegu to cork strong performances throughout the season.
The winners of the 2011 World Athlete-of-the-Year awards will be announced “live”, on stage, during the World Athletics Gala, which will take place in Monaco next Saturday.
