Eliud Kipchoge and Dalilah Muhammad were named World Athletics’ male and female athletes of the year at the World Athletics (formerly IAAF) award ceremony in Monaco on Saturday, November 23.

Kipchoge, 35, won the London Marathon for a fourth time in April before becoming the first athlete to run a marathon in under two hours, covering the 26.2 miles (42.2 kms) in one hour 59 minutes 40 seconds in the Ineos 1:59 Challenge in October. He won the ward for the second consecutive year. He said: “I hope I inspire the human race. I’m just really happy to make history. I hope it was a big inspiration to the next generation.”

Muhammad, 29, won World Championship 400m hurdles gold in Doha having twice broken the world record this year.

Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who won high jump silver with a world Under-20 record of 2.04m in Doha, won the female award for rising star. Ethiopia’s world 5,000m silver medallist Selemon Barega was named male rising star.

PHOTO: Yaroslava Mahuchikh Ukrainian Athletics Federation