Olympic and world 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi capped his explosive season in style after being crowned World Athletics Men’s Track Athlete of the Year. Wanyonyi bagged the award on Sunday, November 30 night during a glittering gala in Monaco, edging out U.S. sprint superstar and Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles for the coveted honour.
Wanyonyi’s triumph came at the end of a season in which the 21-year-old Kenyan dominated the two-lap event on all fronts from the Diamond League to the global championships firmly establishing himself as the heir to Kenya’s storied 800m legacy.
The youngster stormed to his first senior global title at the Paris 2024 Olympics, clocking a breathtaking 1:41.19 to strike gold. He then upgraded the silver he won at the 2023 World Championships by clinching the world title in Tokyo this year, stopping the clock at 1:41.86.
That Tokyo performance capped a sensational campaign in which Wanyonyi delivered four of the six fastest 800m times of the year.
The highlight was the 1:41.44 world-leading run at the Monaco Diamond League in July, a mark that left him just 53 hundredths of a second shy of David Rudisha’s revered world record of 1:40.91.
His Diamond League dominance was equally emphatic, with victories in Oslo, London, Zurich and Monaco cementing his status as the most consistent two-lap runner on the planet.
At the Monaco gala, Wanyonyi received the men’s track crown as one of six athletes honoured in the track, field and out-of-stadium categories before the overall World Athletes of the Year were announced.
Sawe and Serem also honoured
Kenya enjoyed a landmark night as Sabastian Sawe was named Men’s Out-of-Stadium Athlete of the Year. Sawe was unbeaten in 2025, securing major victories including the London Marathon and the Berlin Marathon, where he produced a world-leading 2:02:16.
The country’s future also glittered brightly through 17-year-old steeplechase prodigy Edmund Serem, crowned Men’s Rising Star of 2025.
Serem clinched bronze at the World Championships in Tokyo, finishing behind New Zealand’s Geordie Beamish and Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali.
The World U20 champion currently stands as Kenya’s most exciting new force in the 3000m steeplechase — a discipline that runs deep in his family, with elder brother Amos Serem also a former World U20 champion.
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Sweden’s pole vault sensation Mondo Duplantis and U.S. 400m queen Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone were named the overall World Athletes of the Year.
Duplantis, who received the Men’s Field Athlete of the Year award, was undefeated throughout 2025 and set four world records — 6.27m in Clermont-Ferrand, 6.28m in Stockholm, 6.29m in Budapest and a staggering 6.30m at the World Championships in Tokyo. He also secured a fifth consecutive Diamond League title.
McLaughlin-Levrone capped her year with the World 400m title, running a North American record 47.78, the second-fastest time in history. She remained unbeaten in both the 400m flat and the 400m hurdles for a second straight season, extending her hurdles win streak to 24 races.
Other top honours
Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers claimed the Women’s Field Athlete of the Year award after winning world high jump titles indoors and outdoors and setting an Oceanian record of 2.04m.
Spain’s Maria Perez completed the elite roster, taking the Women’s Out-of-Stadium Athlete of the Year title following dominant campaigns in the 20km and 35km race walks.
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World Athletics President Sebastian Coe described the ceremony as a tribute to the stars who illuminated 2025.
“If there’s a motto for this year’s Awards, it is ‘for the athletes, by the athletes’ and the recipients tonight will aptly receive their prizes from some of our most storied Awards winners down the years,” said Coe.
“I want to thank all the athletes present for their inseparable contribution to a memorable 2025, with its crescendo World Athletics Championships in Tokyo – the most widely covered and commercially impactful edition of our sport’s flagship event in its history.”
Former World Athletes of the Year including Letsile Tebogo, Valerie Adams and Paula Radcliffe presented the category awards before Monaco’s Prince Albert II unveiled McLaughlin-Levrone as the women’s overall winner and Coe handed Duplantis his men’s crown.
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