Neeraj Chopra among five finalists for Men's World Athlete of the Year Award for 2023

The winner will be announced on December 11.

India's poster boy Neeraj Chopra has been named among the five finalists for Men's World Athlete of the Year Award for 2023. From a total of 11 athletes, the list of nominees has been brought down to five with the winner scheduled to be announced on December 11 on the World Athletics social media platforms. The other finalists apart from Neeraj Chopra are - Ryan Crouser, Mondo Duplantis, Kelvin Kiptum and Noah Nyles.

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 gold medallist had a career-best season winning the World Athletics championships followed by Asian Games 2023 triumph. He also finished second at the Diamond League finals 2023 just behind Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch.

Apart from Neeraj, world record holders Ryan Crouser and Mondo Duplantis hold equal chances of winning the prestigious award. The former was crowned the world champion in shot put and also created a new world record prior to World Championships 2023.

On the other hand, Sweden's Mondo Duplantis finished the season by registering a world record jump - 6.23m in Eugene at the Diamond League finals 2023.

A three-way voting process determined the finalists. The World Athletics council and the World Athletics family cast their votes by email, while fans logged their decisions online via the World Athletics social media platforms where a record two million votes were registered. The voting for the same was closed on October 28th.

On Monday (November 13), the nominees for Women's World Athlete of the Year Award for 2023 was announced - Femke Bol, Tigist Assefa, Sherica Jackson, Faith Kipyegon and Yulimar Rojas.

To date, Usain Bolt remains the only male athlete to win the award six awards. In the current list Mondo Duplantis has won the title twice - 2020 and 2022.