The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

With the voting procedure closed on October 31, Bahamian quarter-miler Shaunae Miller-Uibo fell short of making the list for the final five for the World Athletics’ Women’s Athlete of the Year.

World Athletics revealed yesterday the names of the five finalists as the countdown to the World Athletics Awards 2022 continues.

The winners will be revealed on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December.

The five athletes remaining on the list represent five countries from three area associations and they have achieved sensational performances across a range of athletics disciplines in 2022.

They competed at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world.

In October, Miller-Uibo was originally placed in the top 10 after she produced a triple crown at the World Athletics’ Indoor and Outdoor Championships and the NACAC.

For the 28-year-old Miller- Uibo, it was a culmination of events this season that she had either never competed in before or had previously fell short of winning that she is now able to post on her résumé.

She returned to the World Indoor Championships for some unfinished business when she claimed her first gold medal in the 400m in 50.31 seconds in Belgrade, Serbia on March 19 to improve on the bronze she achieved in her initial appearance in Sopot, Poland, in 2014.

She accomplished another first at the first World Championships to be held in the United States in Eugene, Oregon, on July 22 to snatch her first gold in 49.11 – adding to a pair of silver medals and a fourth place in the 400 and a bronze and fourth in the 200 in four previous championships from 2013. And to top off her year, Miller-Uibo came home, albeit in Grand Bahama, for her successful debut at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships (NACAC) with a meet record breaking performance of 49.40 on August 20.

The finalists are (in alphabetical order):

• Tobi Amusan is Nigeria’s world 100m hurdles champion, Diamond League, Commonwealth and African 100m hurdles champion who broke the world record in a time of 12.12 seconds.
• Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is Jamaica’s World 100m champion, claiming a fifth gold medal in the event, Diamond League 100m champion and runner of a world-leading 10.62 among her record seven sub-10.70 100m races of the season.
• Kimberly Garcia won Peru’s first ever World Athletics Championships 20K walk medal and was the world 35km race walk champion in a South American record to complete a race walk double and World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships 20km bronze medallist.
• Sydney McLaughlin is America’s world 400m hurdles and 4x400m champion, who broke the world 400m hurdles record with 51.41 at the US Championships and further improved the world record to 50.68 to win the world title.
• Yulimar Rojas is Venezuela’s world indoor and outdoor triple jump champion and Diamond League triple jump champion, who improved her world record to 15.74m in Belgrade.

A three-way voting process determined the finalists with the World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family casting their votes by email.

And the fans logged their decisions online via the World Athletics social media platforms where a record 1.3 million votes were registered.

The World Athletics Council’s vote counted for 50 percent of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25 percent of the final result.