Rudisha, who is still only 21, burst on to the scene this year after setting two scintillating world records in the space of a week.

The Kenyan first broke the record at the ISTAF IAAF World Challenge meeting in Berlin on August 22 with a time of 1min 41:09sec.

The previous record, held by Kenyan-born Danish runner Wilson Kipketer, had stood since 1997 before Rudisha shaved 0.02 seconds off the mark.

Rudisha said it had been his "first real attempt" at breaking the record and claimed he was capable of improving the time.

He proved this in emphatic fashion just one week later when he bettered his world record in Rieti, Italy with 1:41.01.

Rudisha also won the African Championships, the IAAF/VTB Bank Continental Cup and recorded an unbeaten sequence of 11 finals and four preliminaries in a truly outstanding year.

Rudisha, who becomes the youngest male recipient of the award, told insidethegames: "It is a huge achievement to win the World Athlete of the Year prize and I am very happy.

"It is something I have always dreamed about but something that is not easy do so I am very proud.

"I hope I can go on to even greater success at the World Championships in Degeu next year and then the Olympics in London in 2012.

"My goal is to become the first man to go under 1:41:00 but I know that will not be easy and that I must keep working hard.

"I am very proud to have the world record.

"I know that Wilson Kipketer had the record for almost 13 years and that before him, Seb Coe had it for 16 years so it is really very special for me to be up there with those names."


Like Rudisha, Vlasic had a fantastic year after winning a phenomenal 18 out of 20 competitions.

The 27-year-old, who is the reigning world champion and Olympic silver medallist, also won the Samsung Diamond race with seven out of seven wins and picked up impressive victories at the World Indoor Championships, the European Championships and the IAAF/VTB Bank Continental Cup.

Vlasic, who also tied the world leading performance of 2.05m, admitted she was both surprised and delighted to win the award.

"It feels so amazing and is such a dream for me," Vlasic said.

"I am very honoured to win this award and so proud to join the greats who have won this in the past.

"I hope I can continue to improve and one day break the world record (of 2.09m which is just 2cm higher then Vlasic's personal best) just like David has done."

The Athlete of the Year Award, which was inaugurated in 1998, has been won by all-time legends in the sport with previous male winners including Carl Lewis, Jonathan Edwards, Michael Johnson, Haile Gebreselassie, Hicham El Guerrouj and Usain Bolt, who has won it for the past two years.

Female winners include Florence Griffith-Joyner, Merlene Ottey, Marion Jones, Paula Radcliffe, Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva and last year's winner Sanya Richards.

The awards were presented to Rudisha and Vlasic by IAAF President Lamine Diack, who said their achievements in 2010 "were truly special and worthy of recognition".

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