Marta Alemayo, the Ethiopian teenager who has won the last two world U20 cross-country titles, is one of three finalists for the Women’s Rising Star Award, the honor World Athletics gives to its top under-20 athlete each season. The federation named her on Thursday alongside American sprinter Mia Maxwell and Chinese javelin thrower Yan Ziyi, and the winner will be revealed at the World Athletics Awards in Monaco on Nov. 29.
Alemayo’s standout mark came on April 4, four days before her 18th birthday, when she won the women’s 5K at the Urban Trail de Lille in 14:15. She finished seven seconds clear of fellow Ethiopian Hawi Abera on a day when Jimmy Gressier came within two seconds of the men’s world record on the same streets. The time is a world U20 best, and the only women ever to run faster on the road are Beatrice Chebet, who holds the world record of 13:54, and Agnes Ngetich.
Three months earlier in Tallahassee, she had defended the U20 cross-country title she first won as a 15-year-old in Belgrade in 2024. She covered the 6K course in 18:52 and beat teammate Wosane Asefa by 26 seconds, making her the fifth woman to win the U20 race at consecutive World Cross Country Championships. “I am very happy with my second consecutive gold medal,” she told World Athletics afterward.
On the track, she finished seventh over 5,000m at the Shanghai Diamond League in May in 14:32.84, in a race Faith Kipyegon won in 14:24.14, and in July she lowered her 3,000m best to 8:29.09 at the London Diamond League.
The Other Two Finalists
Maxwell swept the 100m and 200m at the World U20 Championships in Oregon in August, setting a personal best of 22.37 in the longer race. Yan threw 71.74m for a world U20 javelin record, which ranks second on the all-time list, and she also took the Diamond League trophy and second place at the Ultimate Championship. She was a finalist for this award last year too, when it went to her compatriot Zhang Jiale, a hammer thrower.
Distance runners won the award in both 2023 and 2024, each of them a steeplechaser: Kenya’s Faith Cherotich after taking bronze at the senior World Championships in Budapest, and Ethiopia’s Sembo Almayew after winning the world U20 title in Lima.
The men’s shortlist, announced Friday, has a distance runner on it as well in Kenya’s Emmanuel Kiprono, who set a championship record of 7:27.28 to win the world U20 3,000m title and took silver in the U20 cross-country race in Tallahassee. He faces two Americans: Cooper Lutkenhaus, the world indoor 800m champion, who also won twice on the Diamond League circuit, and sprinter Tate Taylor, who won three world U20 titles in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.
The Rising Star awards share the Monaco stage with Women’s and Men’s World Athlete of the Year. Marathoner Sabastian Sawe is a finalist for the men’s prize, while Tigst Assefa and Ngetich finished fourth and sixth in the women’s vote and missed the final three.
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