Timothy Cheruiyot, world silver medalist at the 2017 World Championships in the 1500 meters event has asked Kenyans to rally behind him and vote for him as the Male Athlete of the Year ahead of the International Association of Athletics Federations Awards.
Cheruiyot was nominated against nine other athletes including Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge and Emmanuel Korir. At 22 years, this is the first time Cheruiyot has been nominated for the IAAF awards after he defended his IAAF Diamond League Crown beating his own record.
One year ago, Cheruiyot’s training partner, Elijah Manangoi made it to the IAAF nomination list. Now, Cheruiyot expresses his excitement and gratitude of being on the same list.
“First of all it is an honour to be selected by IAAF for the 2018 award. It means a lot to me because it’s not easy to be recognised among the top 10 athletes in the entire world,” said Cheruiyot.
According to IAAF rules, members of public contribute up to 25% of the total votes, Cheruiyot urged Kenyans to vote for their own passionately.
“I would like to urge all my fans to show their support by voting for me through the social media platforms of the IAAF. If the fans ability to determine who wins takes up to 25 percent then the next three weeks should be of massive activity by our fans on social media. This is a way athletes would feel much appreciated,” said the athlete.
According to Cheruiyot, three Kenyans making it to the list is a huge statement of the countries undisputed command in athletics.
“I’m happy for my compatriots who were also selected for the award since they also did very well in their respective events. I would like to wish them well and hope that one of us will ultimately emerge the winner,” said Cheruiyot.
🚨Alert🚨#AthleticsAwards announcement 🤩@Tim_Cheruiyot is one of 10 nominees for Male World Athlete of the Year 2018✅
Retweet this post to vote for him👇 pic.twitter.com/MCwc5oMCZr
— IAAF (@iaaforg) October 23, 2018
🚨Alert🚨#AthleticsAwards announcement 🤩@EliudKipchoge is one of 10 nominees for Male World Athlete of the Year 2018✅
Retweet this post to vote for him👇 pic.twitter.com/GQB01Ya6cj
— IAAF (@iaaforg) October 23, 2018
🚨Alert🚨#AthleticsAwards announcement 🤩@EEmmanuelkorir is one of 10 nominees for Male World Athlete of the Year 2018✅
Retweet this post to vote for him👇 pic.twitter.com/3pVr2AgG8b
— IAAF (@iaaforg) October 23, 2018
The public can vote on Facebook and Twitter, where a ‘like’ on Facebook and a ‘retweet’ on Twitter will count as one vote. Currently on Twitter, Eliud Kipchoge has more votes of all three Kenyan athletes.
Voting will be closed on November 13 with the winner expected to be announced on December 4th in Monaco, France.
Do you think Kenya stands a change in bagging the Male Athlete of the year IAAF award?