Masai Russell, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Audrey Werro Are the Women’s World Athlete of the Year Finalists

World Athletics named Masai Russell, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Audrey Werro as the three finalists for Women’s World Athlete of the Year on Wednesday, leaving two American sprinters and a Swiss 800m runner in line for the sport’s top individual award. Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, who won the London and Berlin marathons this year, was the highest-placed distance runner in the vote, just outside the shortlist in fourth.

Russell took the 100m hurdles world record down to 12.09 in Zurich, a mark World Athletics ratified on Monday, and went the whole season without losing a hurdles race. She won the Ultimate Championship and the Diamond League title along the way, and of the 10 quickest times in the event this year, nine were hers.

Jefferson-Wooden swept the 100m and 200m at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest. Her 21.47 over 200m made her the third-fastest woman ever over the distance, and she also owns the year’s fastest 100m at 10.62. Werro won Ultimate, Diamond League and European titles over 800m, lowered the Diamond League record on three occasions and finished the season with a world-leading 1:53.70, which also ranks third in history.

From 2023 to 2025, World Athletics crowned separate track, field and out-of-stadium winners and picked its overall athletes of the year from among them. The federation dropped those categories in May, which put road runners back on the same 10-woman nominee list as sprinters and throwers. An eight-person panel of statisticians chose the nominees, and four groups, each counting for 25 percent, ranked them: World Athletics+ subscribers, athletes who competed in World Athletics Series events this year, accredited media, and the federation’s officials, meeting directors, partners and staff. Voting closed Oct. 17.

Where the Distance Runners Landed

Assefa retained her London title in April with a women-only world record of 2:15:41, then ran 2:11:04 in Berlin in September, the third-fastest women’s marathon ever, after rupturing her Achilles late in the race. She has since had surgery in Munich. Assefa won the out-of-stadium award in 2023, and she and Agnes Ngetich were both among last year’s nominees for it.

Ngetich placed sixth, behind 400m runner Marileidy Paulino. The Kenyan won the world cross-country title by 42 seconds, then took the world half-marathon title in Copenhagen by 50 seconds in a women-only world record of 1:05:15. She also ran the year’s fastest 3,000m, 8:08.95, and the fastest 10K, 28:58.

The last distance runner to win the overall women’s award was Sifan Hassan in 2024, the same year she took the out-of-stadium prize, according to World Athletics’ list of past winners. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won it last year, and Marathon Handbook questioned that result at the time.

On the men’s side, the marathon does have a finalist. Sabastian Sawe, whose 1:59:30 in London in April made him the first man to break two hours in a record-eligible marathon, is up against pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis and 400m hurdler Alison dos Santos, World Athletics announced on Tuesday. Josh Kerr finished fourth in the men’s vote.

Both winners will be revealed at the World Athletics Awards in Monaco on Nov. 29. The night also brings the Rising Star awards, Coach of the Year, the President’s Award and a new fan-voted Moment of the Year, where Sawe’s run is among the nominees.