Instead, after a three-week poll, the three athletes who have garnered the most votes are Yohan Blake (pictured, above), Usain Bolt and David Rudisha.

The female finalists, also in order, are Valerie Adams, Vivian Cheruiyot and Sally Pearson.

Bolt's appearance at the World Championships in Daegu is most likely to be remembered for his disqualification from the 100m final for false-starting, but the world and Olympic 100m and 200m record holder recovered to win the longer sprint gold in 19.40 seconds.

He also ran the anchor leg as Jamaica lowered their own world 4x100m relay record to 37.04sec.

In his last race of the season, in the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Brussels, Bolt recorded the fastest 100m of the year, 9.76sec.

Blake, Bolt's 21-year-old training partner, won the world 100m title in Bolt's absence and twice recorded a personal best of 9.82sec after the World Championships.

He rounded off his season in Brussels by upstaging Bolt on the night when he recorded 19.26sec for the 200m, the second-fastest time ever, behind Bolt's world record of 19.19.

Rudisha, from Kenya, won the world 800m title before narrowly failing to improve on his world record of 1min 41.01sec at the Rieti meeting, where he recorded 1:41.33 – a time only beaten by himself and the former world record holder Wilson Kipketer.


New Zealander Adams (pictured, above) regained the initiative in the world shot put standings from Belarus rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk, finishing the season unbeaten and retaining her world title.

Cheruiyot won the 5000m and 10,000m world titles, while Pearson, from Australia, won the world 100m hurdles title in superlative style after an outstanding season.

Her winning time in Daegu of 12.28sec was the fastest recorded since 1992 and made her the fourth fastest ever in the event.

The winners of the 2011 World Athlete of the Year awards will be announced during the International Association of Athletics Federations' World Athletics Gala, in Monaco, on Saturday (November 12).

Contact the writer of this article at [email protected]


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