American hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, has been named the Female World Athlete of the Year, beating Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan and three others for the prestigious honour.
The World Athletics announced the American 400m hurdles Olympics and World Champion and World Record holder as the winner on its website.
The 23-year-old made a statement with her first 400m hurdles race of the year, clocking 51.61 in Nashville in early June. At that point it was the third-fastest time ever recorded, but the all-time list soon underwent further revisions.
Amusan on the other hand took the world by storm when she ran 12.12s in the semi-final of the women’s 100m hurdles at the World Championships in Eugene, USA to break Kendra Harrison’s 12.20s World Record.
Amusan ran a faster time – 12.06s – in the final about one hour later to claim gold, although the time wasn’t deemed legal as it was wind-aided.
The Nigerian hurdler continued her blistering form by retaining her Commonwealth Games title in Birmingham, UK, setting a Games record of 12.30s.
She also retained her Diamond League trophy in her season-ending race.
Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Peru’s Kimberly Garcia, and Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas were the other finalists.
