Rudisha and Vlasic named world athletes of the year
Kenyan running sensation David Rudisha and Croatian high jump star Blanka Vlasic were named male and female athletes of the year respectively in Monaco yesterday by the sport’s governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations...
Kenyan running sensation David Rudisha and Croatian high jump star Blanka Vlasic were named male and female athletes of the year respectively in Monaco yesterday by the sport’s governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
Rudisha, 21, broke the long-standing 800 metres world record twice this season while 27-year-old Vlasic won both the European outdoors and world indoors titles.
Rudisha is the youngest athlete ever to win the prestigious award having first broken the record in Berlin on August 22 with a time of 1 minute 41.09 seconds before bettering that mark with 1:41.01 in Rieti, Italy, a week later.
His time in the Berlin meet had shaved two hundredths of a second off the previous best mark set by Denmark’s Kenyan-born Wilson Kipketer in August 1997.
He was also crowned African champion in July in Nairobi and was unbeaten in his 16 races during the outdoor campaign.
The duo also receive a cheque for 100,000 dollars (73,000 euros) and succeed Jamaica’s 100 and 200m world record holder Usain Bolt and the United States 400m world outdoors champion Sanya Richards as athletes of the year.