2018 World Athlete of the Year nominees - throws (© Getty Images)
With just five days to go before voting for the 2018 World Athletes of the Year concludes, here’s a closer look at this year's men’s and women’s nominees in the throwing and combined events.
Kevin Mayer
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Kevin Mayer got his year off to a great start, winning the heptathlon at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 with a world-leading 6348.
The French all-rounder wasn’t quite so fortunate at the European Championships, where he recorded three fouls in the long jump to make an early exit in the decathlon. But he rebounded five weeks later at the Decastar Meeting in Talence, where he broke the world record with 9126.
Sandra Perkovic
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Sandra Perkovic once again dominated the discus this year, winning 11 of her 13 discus competitions.
The Croatian won the European title for a record fifth time and had the seven farthest throws of the year, including a world-leading 71.38m set at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha.
Nafissatou Thiam
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Nafissatou Thiam went unbeaten in the heptathlon for another year. The Belgian all-round talent won in Götzis with 6806, clearing a world heptathlon best of 2.01m in the high jump on the way to her victory.
She went on to improve her world-leading mark to 6816 to win the European title in Berlin, helped by a throw of 57.91m in the javelin.
Tomas Walsh
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Tomas Walsh won three big titles this year, breaking the competition record in all of them. Back in March he won at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 with 22.31m, breaking the championship record that had stood since 1987 and moving him to fourth on the world indoor all-time list.
The New Zealander won the Commonwealth title one month later, having smashed the championship record in the qualifying round with 22.45m. Later in the year he won the IAAF Diamond League final in Zurich with 22.60m, an IAAF Diamond League record. Earlier in the year he broke his own Oceanian record with 22.67m, the world’s longest shot put since 2003.
Anita Wlodarczyk
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Anita Wlodarczyk suffered two rare defeats in the hammer at the start of the year, but soon found her rhythm as the season progressed, throwing world-leading marks of 78.74m and 79.59m.
The Polish thrower won the European title in Berlin and ended the year as the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge winner.
Voting procedure
A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.
The IAAF Council and the IAAF Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the IAAF's social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram this week; a 'like' on Facebook and Instagram or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.
The IAAF Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the IAAF Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.
Voting for the Male World Athlete of the Year closes on 13 November. At the conclusion of the voting process, five men and five women finalists will be announced by the IAAF.
The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live on stage at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2018.
IAAF
