Kenya's Sabastian Sawe makes final three for World Athlete of the Year

Kenya's Sabastian Sawe, who ran 1:59:30 to win the London Marathon in April, is one of three finalists for the 2026 Men's World Athlete of the Year, World Athletics announced on 10 November 2026.

His rivals for the award are Brazil's Alison dos Santos and Sweden's Mondo Duplantis, both world record breakers this season. The three will be invited to the World Athletics Awards in Monaco on 29 November, where the winner will be announced live on stage.

The finalists topped a list of 10 nominees after a four-way vote by fans, athletes, members of the media and the World Athletics Family. When it named the nominees on 6 October, World Athletics said each of the four voting groups would contribute 25 per cent of the final vote, and that the 10 had been chosen by an eight-strong panel of statisticians, two from World Athletics and one from each of the six area associations.

Sawe is the first man to break two hours in a record-eligible marathon, and the only Kenyan among the three finalists.

The London Marathon was run on 26 April 2026. Sawe took 65 seconds off the previous world record of 2:00:35, set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago on 8 October 2023. World Athletics included the new mark in a list of ratified world records it published on 23 July.

In London the leading group passed 10km in 28:34 and 15km in 43:10, and reached halfway in 1:00:29. Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha finished second in 1:59:41, an Ethiopian record, and Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo was third in a Ugandan record of 2:00:28, also inside the old world record.

"I feel good, I'm so happy. It is a day to remember for me," Sawe said after the race, as quoted by World Athletics.

Sawe won on his marathon debut in Valencia in 2024 in 2:02:05. He then won London in April 2025 in 2:02:27 and Berlin in September 2025 in 2:02:16.

Dos Santos set a world record of 45.80 seconds in the 400 metres hurdles and won the title at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in 45.98, the third-fastest time in history. He went unbeaten in 11 hurdles races, including the Diamond League Final.

Duplantis raised his world pole vault record to 6.31 metres in Uppsala on 12 March and won the Ultimate, world indoor and European titles. The other seven men's nominees included Britain's Josh Kerr and Ja'Kobe Tharp of the United States.

Sawe's run in London is also one of three finalists for Moment of the Year, an award that will be presented for the first time in Monaco. Those finalists, chosen by a fan vote on the official World Athletics app and announced on 3 November, are Botswana's win in the men's 4x400 metres relay on home soil at the World Athletics Relays, Kerr's world mile record of 3:42.66 in London and Sawe's 1:59:30.

The finalists for the Women's World Athlete of the Year, announced by World Athletics on 11 November, are Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Masai Russell of the United States and Switzerland's Audrey Werro. Kenya's Agnes Ngetich, who was among the 10 women's nominees, did not make the final three. She won the world half marathon title by 50 seconds in a women-only world record of 1:05:15, and the world cross-country title by 42 seconds.

China's Yan Ziyi, who set a world U20 javelin record of 71.74 metres in Xiamen on 23 May, also did not make the final three for the Women's World Athlete of the Year. World Athletics announced on 12 November that she is one of three finalists for the Women's Rising Star award, with Ethiopia's Marta Alemayo and Mia Maxwell of the United States.

The ceremony in Monaco on 29 November will also present the men's and women's Rising Star awards, Coach of the Year, the President's Award and Moment of the Year.