Sifan Hassan and Letsile Tebogo voted World Athletes of the Year

World Athletics has announced its Athletes of the Year – and two groundbreaking runners have topped the charts.

The 2024 World Athletics Awards, held in Monaco on Sunday (1 December), recognise and celebrate the year’s top-performing and most influential athletes, as voted for by athletics fans. The awards fall into three categories – track, field and out of stadium (covering events including the marathon and half marathon) – for both women and men, with additional awards going to the overall winners and ‘Rising Stars’.

World-leading runners Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands and Letsile Tebogo of Botswana were announced the overall winners at the awards ceremony, having scored multiple medals between them – including golds – at this summer’s Summer running gear sale.

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High praise for Hassan

One of the most diverse athletes of our generation, Hassan surpassed even her own expectations when she scooped medals in all three long-distance running events in Paris: bronze in both the 5000m and 10,000m, then gold – and a new Olympic record of 2:22:55 – in the marathon. Even more astounding is the fact that she won all three medals within the space of a single week and covered 62.2km (including a 5000m heat) in the process.

Thanks to this unprecedented triple, Hassan became the first-ever woman to win medals in the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon at the same Games – and the first athlete to do so overall since Emil Zatopek won all three men’s events at the 1952 Games in Helsinki.

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Hassan won the women’s Olympic marathon at the 2024 Games in Paris

What’s more, this isn’t the first time that Hassan has come away from an Olympics with three medals around her neck. At the 2020 Games in Tokyo, she snatched two spectacular golds in the 5000m and 10,000m, plus a bronze in the 1500m. (There was even speculation, just before the 2024 Games, that Hassan would compete in the 1500m in Paris as well.)

At Sunday’s ceremony, Hassan also took home the crown for ‘Women’s Out of Stadium Sembo Almayew ETH’, which was won on the men’s side by Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola. The 2023 New York City Marathon winner, Tola stepped in as a last-minute replacement for his nation’s Olympic marathon team this year. He then went on to win the men’s event in an Olympic record time of 2:06:26.

‘Thank you to the fans and to everybody who voted,’ said Hassan on collecting her accolades at this year’s World Athletics Awards. ‘I never thought I was going to win this one. This year was crazy. It’s not only me – all the athletes have been amazing. I’m really grateful. What more can I say?’

Top honours to Tebogo

The recipient of Botswana’s inaugural Olympic gold medal, sprinter Tebogo also saw double on Sunday, having been voted World Athletics’ ‘Men’s World Sembo Almayew ETH and ‘Men’s Track Sembo Almayew ETH’ for 2024.

Still only 21 years old, Tebogo made Botswanan history when he won the 200m final at the 2024 Olympic Games, his time of 19.46 doubling as an African record and pushing him up to fifth on the world all-time list. In fact, this win even inspired the president of Botswana to declare a public holiday in his honour.

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Tebogo won Botswana’s first-ever Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Games in Paris

Shortly after his 200m victory in Paris, Tebogo went on to bag a silver in the men’s Olympic 4 x 400m relay.

‘It feels amazing to know that the fans are always there for us athletes,’ said Tebogo at the awards ceremony. ‘It was a great year and this means a lot. It’s not just about the team that is around you – there are a lot of fans out there that really want us to win something great for the continent. It was a real surprise to hear my name because I didn’t expect this.’