The IAAF announced today that our gold world champion Mutaz Barshim, the high jump champion, is on the final shortlist for World Athlete of the Year 2014, which includes alongside him just two other athletes, an unprecedented achievement in Arab and Asian athletics, and the final list includes, alongside Barshim, world indoor champion and holder of the best mark this season outdoors (2.43 m at the Zurich meeting), Kenyan runner Dennis Kipruto Kimetto, holder of the new marathon world record, and Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie, who broke the world indoor pole vault record. Mutaz Barshim, 23, achieved an exceptional season of victories over the past few days after winning at the Asian Games recently hosted by South Korea, adding this achievement to his win at the World Indoor Athletics Championships and the athletics Diamond League, while the women’s list includes New Zealand’s Valerie Adams, winner of the shot put gold at the Beijing (2008) and London (2012) Olympics and four-time world champion, Ethiopian runner Genzebe Dibaba, holder of the indoor 1500m and 3000m world records, and Dutchwoman Dafne Schippers, Europe’s fastest sprinter and holder of the heptathlon silver at the last World Championships in Moscow (2013).
