Less than 48 hours Year, Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred was officially nominated by World Athletics as Track Athlete of the Year.

The nomination was announced by the global governing body via its website and social media outlets on Monday.

The 23-year-old won 60m gold at the World Indoor Championships, 100m gold at the Paris Olympics, and the 100m final at the Wanda Diamond League. She also won 200m silver at the Olympics, one of only four women with multiple individual medals at Paris 2024.

But she faces a tough field this week, including World and Olympic record holders.

The Kenyan duo of Beatrice Chebet and Faith Kipyegon is especially hard to top. Chebet got 5K and 10K gold in Paris, after breaking the 10K World record this year. Kipyegon won a third Olympic 1500m title, and broke the World record in her event.

Elsewhere, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own 400m hurdles World record en route to Olympic gold and Marileidy Paulino lowered the 28-year-old Olympic record in the 400m. Gabrielle Thomas won 200m gold, and added two more relay titles.

Alfred ended the year fourth in the women’s World Athletics rankings, behind only Femke Bol, Chebet, and 2023 Female Track Athlete of the Year, Kipyegon. She ends the year with World Leads over 60m and 200m indoors, while she is second fastest in the 100m and third in the 200m outdoors.

Social media voting will account for a quarter of the final tally. The social vote is open until October 27 on Facebook, Instagram, and X. Individual graphics for each nominee have been posted; a ‘like’ on Facebook and Instagram or a retweet on X will count as one vote.

The World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50 per cent of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes will count for 25 per cent of the result.

Once the two finalists have been established on November 4, a fan vote will open – for all registered users of Inside Track – to help determine the overall World Athletes of the Year.

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