Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of America won the prestigious title of Female World Athlete of the Year from the World Athletics, defeating Tobi Amusan of Nigeria and three other competitors.
The other finalists were Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela, Kimberly Garcia of Peru, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica.
The winner was declared on the World Athletics website as the American 400m hurdles Olympic, World, and World Record holder.
McLaughlin-Levrone lowered her own 400-meter hurdles world mark twice, first to 51.41 at the US Championships and then to a mind-blowing 50.68 at the World Championships, setting an improvement of 0.78. Her first individual senior global championship was thus assured, and she quickly followed it up by leading the US team to another 4x400m triumph.
After winning the US Championships, she remarked, “I think there’s a little more in the tank there.” “Hopefully we can just empty it altogether when the time comes.”
A month later, McLaughlin-Levrone returned to Hayward Field and shattered her old record by racing 50.68 in front of a stunned home crowd and the rest of the world.
McLaughlin-Levrone declared, “This year, I achieved all of my goals. “We were successful in completing what we had planned. It couldn’t have been better, and I felt incredibly grateful to have given that performance in front of my own audience.
When Amusan broke Kendra Harrison’s 12.20-second world record in the women’s 100-meter hurdles semifinal at the Globe Championships in Eugene, USA, she shook the world.
About an hour later, Amusan won the final with a quicker time (12.06 seconds). In Birmingham, UK, the Nigerian hurdler also successfully defended her Commonwealth Games crown while establishing a new Games record of 12.30 seconds.
In her final race of the season, she also kept the Diamond League trophy.
While American teenager sensation Erriyon Knighton and Serbian javelin thrower Adriana Vilagos won the men’s and women’s Rising Stars awards, respectively, pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis of Sweden was also named the men’s world athlete of the year.
