They say a picture speaks a thousand words.Indeed this year’s IAAF photo of the year needs no interpretation.Its a successful product of both perfect timing and an interesting subject in a life story angle.
The Spanish photographer’s image of an exhausted and mud-splattered Selemon Barega after winning the Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza in Elgoibar was judged to be the winner from this year’s shortlist of four photographs.
A photo of this unsung hero claimed the IAAF photo of the year! #AthleticsAwards pic.twitter.com/L8Qnd5vXmR
— TEETOTALER™ (@LilKoima) December 5, 2018
The IAAF Council and the IAAF Family casted their votes by email, while fans voted online via the IAAF’s social media platforms
A list of 10 nominees for Male World Athlete of the Year were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of the IAAF.
Eliud Kipchoge and Caterine Ibarguen have been named the male and female World Athletes of the Year at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2018, held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Tuesday (4).
Kipchoge underlined his status as the world’s most dominant distance runner. The 34-year-old Kenyan won the London Marathon in April in 2:04:17 to finish comfortably ahead of one of the deepest marathon fields in history.
Five months later, he won the Berlin Marathon in 2:01:39 to smash the world record. His time in the German capital was 78 seconds faster than the previous world record, representing the biggest single improvement on a men’s marathon world record since 1967.
Not content with being the best triple jumper in the world, Ibarguen also tested herself against the world’s best in the long jump this year and consistently came out on top in that too.
The 34-year-old Colombian won both horizontal jumps at the Central American and Caribbean Games, the IAAF Continental Cup and at the IAAF Diamond League finals winning the latter two titles in two different cities within the space of 24 hours.
She was unbeaten in all eight of her triple jump competitions, ending the year with a world-leading mark of 14.96m in her specialist event and a national record of 6.93m in the long jump.
Who did you nominate for the IAAF athletics awards 2018?