Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Yulimar Rojas have the possibility to join an elite few who have won World Female Athlete of the Year twice

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Yulimar Rojas each have the opportunity to win Women’s World Athlete of the Year for the second time. Fraser-Pryce first won the award nine years ago while Rojas’ win was more recent in 2020. The two athletes are definitely deserving of the honor after such successful seasons from both.

In 2008, Fraser-Pryce won Olympic titles in the 100 and 200 meter races before going on to win a world title in both in 2013. This year, Fraser-Pryce added another world title in the 100m and just missed the top of the podium in the 200m earning a silver instead. Fraser-Pryce ran a 10.67sec to win her fifth world 100m title and was just two hundredths of a second off of her 2021 personal best.

Rojas has shown her star power over the last few years racking up medals along the way. Last summer in Tokyo, Rojas broke the World Record in triple jump with a leap of 15.67m. This summer, Rojas bested her own record when she jumped 15.74m on her way to winning the Diamond League title.

If either of these two women win their second title, they will join a very exclusive club. Only three women have captured World Female Athlete of the Year twice before. Sprinter Marion Jones and 400m runner Sanya Richards-Ross, both of the United States, have won the title two times and Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva, a pole vaulter, is the only woman to have won the award three times.

Also nominated for Female Athlete of the Year are American Sydney McLaughlin, Jamaican Shericka Jackson, Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo, American Chase Ealey, Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Nigerian Tobi Amusan and Peruvian Kimberly Garcia. The field includes athletes from both the track and field, from distance to sprints.

There is no doubt that whichever athlete wins this year did so through hard work and dedication to the sport she has worked so hard to perfect. With records falling left and right, it doesn’t matter who wins because the future of the sport looks bright with these stars among it.