By Mike Rowbottom

Mo Farah_of_Great_Britain_at_London_2012_mens_5000m_finalOctober 11 - Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis, Britain's European Athletes of 2012, are both on the shortlist for World Athlete of the Year along with last year's winners Jamaican Usain Bolt, who retained his Olympic 100 and 200 metres titles this year and Australia's Sally Pearson, who added Olympic gold to her world 100m hurdles title, winning 25 of her 26 races last season.

Kenya's David Rudisha, who won the Olympic 800m gold in a world record time, is also expected to be another strong contender.

Farah, who followed up his gold and silver medal performance at last year's World Championships by taking the Olympic 10,000 and 5,000m titles, and Ennis, who turned world silver into Olympic gold on home soil in the London 2012 heptathlon, are among the 10 men and 10 women whose relative merits will be voted upon by members of the International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) family, including invited press, by October 28.

Those votes will directly contribute to the nomination of finalists for the 2012 World Athlete of the Year Award.

Jessica Ennis_of_Great_BritainOlympic gold medallist Jessica Ennis is in the running for IAAF World Athlete of the Year

The Council of the International Athletic Foundation will then select the male and female winners from the finalists, with the announcement taking place in a special ceremony in Barcelona, during the 2012 Centenary Celebrations, on November 24.

The Candidates for the World Athlete of the Year Award are as follows:

Men – Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt, Ashton Eaton, Mo Farah, Robert Harting, Kirani James, Renaud Lavillenie, Aries Merritt, David Rudisha and Christian Taylor.

Women – Valerie Adams, Tirunesh Dibaba, Jessica Ennis, Allyson Felix, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Yelena Lashmanova, Sally Pearson, Brittney Reese, Sanya Richards-Ross and Barbora Špotáková.

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