Joshua Cheptegei just can’t wait for the final vote for the 2019 IAAF Athlete of the year Award.
He started off the year emerging as the first Ugandan senior to win the World cross Country.
Cheptegi who is the first Ugandan to be nominated for the prestigious award is confidant that he is a favourite. “If justice is done, I should be voted as the best”, stated Cheptegei.
Cheptegei made the crème de la creme list after record- breaking year where he became the first Ugandan to win three global titles.
He started off the year emerging as the first Ugandan senior to win the World cross – Country. He then gave his Country and the first IAAF golden league 5000m next was more gold in the 10,000m at the Doha World championships. Cheptegei sees marathon sensation Eliud Kipchoge and US star Sprinter Noah Lyle’s as his biggest challengers.
The list has a total of 11 nominees who include American Christian Coleman, whose 9.76 seconds, was the fastest 100m in 2019.
There is also Kenya’s 1500m king Timothy Cheruiyot and Karsten Warholm who wound up the season with the second- fastest 400m hurdle time of 46.92.
This is World athletics body IAAF’s biggest annually accolade event and this will be the 32nd edition which will be held on November 24 2019 in the city- state of Monaco.
A three- way voting process will determine the finalists, The IAAF council and the IAAF family will cast their votes by email, while fans will vote online via IAAF’s social media platforms’. The IAAF council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the IAAF family’s votes and the fans votes will each count for 25% of the final result.
At the conclusion of the voting process, five men and Women finalists will be announced by the IAAF.
