Athletes observers believe the world-record performances of Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, United States’ Sydney McLaughlin and Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas will determine who wins the 2022 Women’s World Athlete of the year award.
The trio did not just smash the world best performance in their respective events but are also ranked number one in those events.
Amusan established herself as the world number one sprint hurdler in 2022.
The petite, 25 year old Nigerian did not just end her season as the fastest 100m hurdler of the year; she became the fastest woman in history for the event following her stunning world record run of 12.12s at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA.
She followed it up by winning the gold in the competition, the biggest of the four major titles she won in 2022.
Amusan had earlier retained her African crown and added the Commonwealth and the Diamond League titles after her triumph in Oregon.
McLaughlin on her part broke the world record twice this year with her most recent barrier-breaking performance coming in Eugene in 50.68s, arguably one of the greatest performances in the history of the sport.
This was achieved on her way to winning the world 400m hurdles title, her only major honour of the year.
For the Venezuelan, Rojas, coached by the great Ivan Pedroso, the standout moment of her year came at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia where she won her third successive title in an outright world record of 15.74m, adding seven centimetres to the world record she set when winning Olympic gold in Tokyo last year.
She also won the World outdoor title in Oregon and the Diamond League trophy in Zurich.
