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After the conclusion of the 2024 track and field campaign, attention will shift to end of season accolades and there are a number of reasons why Beatrice Chebet should be crowned.
The dust is still just settling on what has been a brilliant season for Beatrice Chebet and as the athletes take a well-deserved break, the focus will shift to the end of season awards.
Key among them is the World Athlete of the Year Award which is awarded by World Athletics and Chebet should be among those standing on the winner’s podium in November.
This is because no female athlete has achieved what Chebet has managed this season, even if there have been impressive performances from others, especially at the Paris Olympics.
Chebet was among the few athletes who claimed two gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, having won both 5,000m and 10,000m, this coming after she had retained her World Cross-Country title as well as breaking the world record in 10,000m at the Prefontaine Classic, the Eugene Diamond League, in May.
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14:34 - 16.09.2024
Kenyan women scoop most titles at Diamond League final to maintain their dominance
Kenya’s female athletes reigned supreme at the Diamond League final in Brussels as they scooped most of the titles to maintain their good record at major championships.
Chebet started by bagging a second straight World Cross-Country title in Belgrade, Serbia in March before she began her Diamond League season in Doha, Qatar in May, when she won the 5,000m before following it up with the world record in Eugene in what was Kenya's Olympics trials in the 10,000m.
Chebet lowered Letesenbet Gidey's 10,000m world record of 29:01.03, running a time of 28:54.14 to become the first woman to break the 29-minute barrier.
The race was originally billed as a world record attempt by Gudaf Tsegay and Chebet attached herself to the Ethiopian throughout the 25-lap race, and as her rival faded from world record pace nearing the end, the Kenyan surged with three laps to go to catch up with the world record wave lights before breaking it.
At the Olympics, Chebet floored her rivals, who included Kenyan compatriot Faith Kipyegon and Tsegay, to claim gold in 5,000m before she made it double delight in 10,000m.
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07:04 - 16.08.2024
Athletics pays! Staggering amount Beatrice Chebet has earned from her track wins in 2024
Beatrice Chebet is enjoying a great season after adding two Olympics gold medals to her cabinet and those wins have greatly boosted her earnings in the last five months.
She would add the Zurich Diamond League to her wins before she ended the season in style by winning her second trophy at the season finale in Brussels last week.
It has been an impressive season that leaves Chebet as the hot favourite to claim the World Athlete of the Year Award.
Comparing her to others who have equally performed well, few come close. Americans Gabby Thomas and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Kenya’s Kipyegon, Julien Alfred of St Lucia and Bahrain’s Winfeed Yavi are the other athletes who have had an impressive season, as well as Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic.
However, besides her three gold medals at the Olympics, Thomas is yet to break a world record this year while McLaughlin-Levrone poses a threat as she won two Olympics titles, breaking a world record in the 400m hurdles in the process. The two have not run in the Diamond League though.
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07:00 - 17.09.2024
Beatrice Chebet: How Sifan Hassan inspired my record-breaking 2024 season
Double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet has opened up about how Dutch woman Sifan Hassan motivated her history-making season in 2024.
Meanwhile, Kipyegon also broke a world record in the 1,500m at the Paris Diamond League before she went on to make it three straight Olympics titles and also won her fifth Diamond League trophy.
Last year’s winner Kipyegon is, however, slightly edged out by Chebet who has two Olympics titles. For Yavi, the Olympics title will count but she failed to win the Diamond League trophy in Brussels, having come very close to breaking the world record in Rome.
For Julien Alfred, it might be a long stretch after winning her first Olympics gold in 100m while Paulino has the Olympics 400m crown and Diamond League trophy to show.
All these, however, pale in comparison to what hat Chebet has managed in 2024 which makes her a shoo-in for the World Athlete of the Year Award.
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14:35 - 16.09.2024
Faith Kipyegon & Marco Arop alarmed by increasing gender-based violence against athletes
Olympics champion Faith Kipyegon and Canadian Marco Arop have expressed their worry over the increasing cases of gender-based violence against athletes.
World Athletics watered down the gala in 2023 when they had three awards; track, field and out of stadia, instead of an outright winner like it had been before, but whatever they decide on this year, Chebet has a massive chance.
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