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Cape Town - Kenya’s latest marathon sensation, Dennis Kimetto, and Ethiopia’s middle and long-distance queen Genzebe Dibaba are in line for top honours at Friday’s International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) gala awards in Monaco.
Fresh off breaking the
world record, Kimetto will battle it out with record-breaking pole vaulter
Renaud Lavillenie from France and Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim for the Male
Athlete of the Year. Contesting the Female Athlete of the Year with Dibaba is
Valerie Adams, New Zealand’s legendary shot putter, and Dafne Schippers of the
Netherlands, a heptathlete who recently decided to focus on the sprints to
devastating effect.
Choosing the male athlete will be a particularly tough task as all three men had a spectacular 2014. Kimetto chomped 26 seconds off his compatriot Wilson Kipsang’s world record en route to winning the Berlin Marathon two months ago with a time of 2:02:57.
In a year in which high jumping captivated track and field audiences the world over, Barshim leapt into history with a 2,43m jump, the second highest ever. His duel with Bogdan Bondarenko was the stuff of legend and continuously threatened Javier Sotomayor’s world record.
The legendary Sergey Bubka’s pole vault record of 6,15m was thought to be one of those that would stand the test of time. Frenchman Lavillenie had other ideas, though, clearing 6,16m at the very same meeting that Bubka set the record.
Other awards include
the Rising Stars, Coach of the Year, Distinguished Career and an induction into
the Hall of Fame of 12 legendary athletes.
The event is live on SuperSport 7 HD from 21:00 on Friday, November 21.
