Semenya and van Niekerk in lin

Semenya and van Niekerk in line for IAAF top gongs

They need a little bit of help from their fans to win it.

Semenya and van Niekerk in lin

South Africa’s Olympic gold medallists Caster Semenya and Wayde van Niekerk the 2016 World Athlete of the Year following their heroics at the Rio Olympics.

Van Niekerk broke the 400m World Record at the Olympics while Semenya dominated the 800m race.

A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.

The IAAF Council and the IAAF Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the 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 public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.

The full list of finalists are as follows:

Men

Usain Bolt (JAM)
Thiago Braz da Silva (BRA)
Ashton Eaton (USA)
Mo Farah (GBR)
Eliud Kipchoge (KEN)
Conselsus Kipruto (KEN)
Omar McLeod (JAM)
David Rudisha (KEN)
Christian Taylor (USA)
Wayde van Niekerk (RSA)

Women

Almaz Ayana (ETH)
Ruth Beitia (ESP)
Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN)
Kendra Harrison (USA)
Caterine Ibarguen (COL)
Ruth Jebet (BRN)
Sandra Perkovic (CRO)
Caster Semenya (RSA)
Elaine Thompson (JAM)
Anita Wlodarczyk (POL)