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World’s fastest woman snubbed for World Athlete of the Year

Triple world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden will miss out on World Athletics' top honour

Published November 4, 2025
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden

Nick Iwanyshyn

On Tuesday, World Athletics announced its finalists for World Athlete of the Year, leaving track fans outraged. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol were confirmed as the top two female track athletes, leaving triple world sprint gold medallist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, along with Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet, out of the running.

Jefferson-Wooden (100m, 200m and 4x100m world champion), Kipeygon (new 1,500m world record and 1,500m world champion) and Chebet (5,000m and 10,000m world champion) were the other three female track athletes initially nominated in mid-October, selected by “a panel of international experts.” Jefferson-Wooden became the first American woman and only the second woman ever, after Jamaican sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, to complete the triple crown–a feat that seemed certain to earn her the award.

While breaking down the voting system, which gives fans the ability to vote, World Athletics explained that each “like” on Facebook or Instagram and each repost on X/Twitter counts as one vote.

But, according to Twitter users, Kipeygon and Chebet were most popular among fans, with Kipeygon boasting a whopping 48,000 votes across social media platforms and Chebet boasting 31,000. But these votes only counted for 25 per cent of the total result, as the remaining 75 per cent was divvied up between the World Athletics Council (controlling 50 per cent of the result) and the World Athletics Family (controlling 25 per cent).

 

The Athlete of the Year in each category, plus the overall male and female winners, will be announced at the World Athletics awards ceremony in Monaco on Nov. 30.

Click here for the complete list of finalists for the World Athletics Awards.