Canada’s Pierce LePage nominated for World Athlete of the Year

The nominees for the 2023 World Athletics Men’s Athlete of the Year award have been revealed, and among the 11 elite athletes in contention is Canada’s Pierce LePage, the decathlon world champion.

At the 2023 World Athletics Championships, LePage of Whitby, Ont., became the first Canadian to win a world championship title in the decathlon, with an outstanding personal best score of 8,909 points. During the competition, the 27-year-old set personal bests in the men’s 110m hurdles and achieved season’s bests in the pole vault, 1,500m, high jump and 400m, securing the top spot on the podium. He also surpassed his previous best of 8,701 points, which he achieved at the 2022 World Championships, where he won silver.

Male Athlete of the Year nominee ✨

Retweet to vote for Pierce LePage 🇨🇦 in the #AthleticsAwards. pic.twitter.com/VyHUpfxtS7

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) October 12, 2023

LePage also won the premier decathlon event of the season at the Götzis Hypo-Meeting in Austria in May, bringing an end to Damian Warner’s streak of six consecutive wins. If LePage were to win the Male Athlete of the Year award, he would be the first Canadian male to do so since the award was established in 1988. 

The 11 nominees were selected by an international panel comprising athletics journalists and council representatives from World Athletics.

Here are the nominees for 2023 Men’s World Athlete of the Year (in alphabetical order):

Track nominees

Soufiane El Bakkali, MAR, 3,000m steeplechase
· World champion
· Undefeated in six finals

Jakob Ingebrigtsen, NOR, 1,500m/mile/5,000m
· World 5000m champion and 1,500m silver medallist
· European records for 1,500m, mile and 3,000m

Kelvin Kiptum, KEN, marathon
· London and Chicago Marathon winner
· Marathon world record – 2:00:25

Pierce LePage, CAN, decathlon
· World champion, Götzis Hypo-meeting champion
· World leader – 8,909 points

Noah Lyles, USA, 100m/200m
· World 100m and 200m champion
· World leader and undefeated in six finals at 200m

Alvaro Martin, ESP, race walk
· World 20 km and 35 km race walk champion
· World leader 20 km race walk

Karsten Warholm, NOR, 400m hurdles/400m
· World 400m hurdles champion
· European indoor 400m champion

Field nominees

Neeraj Chopra, IND, javelin
· World champion
· Asian Games champion

Ryan Crouser, USA, shot put
· World champion
· World record – 23.56 metres

Mondo Duplantis, SWE, pole vault
· World champion
· Diamond League champion with world record – 6.23 metres

Miltiadis Tentoglou, long jump
· World champion
· European Indoor champion

A three-way voting process will determine the five male and five female finalists, who will be announced on Nov. 13 and 14, with winners being announced on Dec.11. The World Athletics Council and Family will cast their votes via email, while fans can vote online via World Athletics social media platforms on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (X). The World Athletics Council vote will make up 50 per cent of the result, with 25 per cent coming from the World Athletics Family and the other 25 per cent from the public. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted this week, and a ‘like’ on Facebook and Instagram or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.

Voting for the award will conclude at midnight on Oct. 31. 

Sifan Hassan snubbed by World Athletics for Women’s Athlete of the Year

Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis won last year’s award after setting the world record at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene. Hayward Field in Eugene has been a special place for Duplantis, he broke the pole vault world record there again this year at the 2023 Diamond League final.