Wayde van Niekerk

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 06: Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa after the semi final of the mens 400m during day 3 of the 16th IAAF World Athletics Championships 2017 at The Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on August 06, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Roger Sedres/ImageSA/Gallo Images)

Wayde van Niekerk up for top IAAF award, but Caster Semenya misses out

Wayde van Niekerk is the only South African athlete in line for an IAAF Award.

Wayde van Niekerk

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 06: Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa after the semi final of the mens 400m during day 3 of the 16th IAAF World Athletics Championships 2017 at The Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on August 06, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Roger Sedres/ImageSA/Gallo Images)

Wayde van Niekerk has been nominated alongside British 10 000m runner Mo Farah and Qatar high-jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim for the 2017 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award.

Caster Semenya made the long list of nominees, but did not make the final three. She lost out to Ethiopian 10 000m runner Almaz Ayana, Greek pole vaulter Ekaterini Stefanidi and Belgium’s multi-event star Nafissatou Thiam who were all nominated in the women’s category.

Luvo Manyonga, the long-jump world champion, also missed out in the men’s category.

The winners will be announced at an event in Monaco that will take place on Friday, November 24.

How did voting work?

The IAAF Council and the IAAF Family cast their votes by email, while fans voted online via the IAAF’s social media platforms. The IAAF Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the IAAF Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result. Voting closed on 16 October.

Yeah, remember when we told you to vote for South Africa’s athletes? Well you’ve let your country down, South Africa. Just kidding, sort of…

Van Niekerk, meanwhile, has been ruled out of the 2018 Commonwealth Games after he tore some ligaments in a charity touch rugby game recently.

Van Niekerk was due to give the 400m – where he is the world record holder – a miss and focus on the shorter sprint disciplines in the 100m and 200m.

The South African runner set the world alight when he broke the 400m World Record at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Van Niekerk has also gone on to become the first runner in history to go sub-10 for 100m, sub-20 for 200m, sub-31 for 300m and sub-44 for 400m. His personal bests are 9.94 for 100m, 19.84 for 200m and 43.03 for 400m.