JOHANNESBURG – Wayde van Niekerk will once again be up for the prestigious male IAAF World Athlete of the Year after he made the final short-list for the second consecutive time.
He will go up against Great Britain’s Mo Farah and Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2017 in Monaco on November 24.
Van Niekerk will bid to become only the second SA athlete, after former world high jump champion Hestrie Cloete in 2003, to win the coveted accolade.
Last year he missed out on the prize to iconic Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, but will hope his double-medal haul at the IAAF World Championships in London would enough to earn him the title.
Treble world champion and Olympic gold medallist Caster Semenya missed out on the three-woman short-list for the second consecutive year, while world long jump champion Luvo Manyonga also missed the cut.
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