VOTING BY OUR 32-member international panel in this annual exercise — our 49th year of choosing a Women’s Athlete Of The Year — was scored on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis…
Only three times, and not in the past quarter-century, has the winner bettered Faith Kipyegon’s 99.7% approval rating. Thirty-one No. 1 votes went to the Kenyan star. Femke Bol captured the single dissenting vote…
Three women — Kipyegon, Shericka Jackson and Yulimar Rojas — return from the ’22 Top 10. Kipyegon & Rojas are now at 3 in a row, and TJer Rojas is, in fact, at 4 straight. Sifan Hassan has earned Top 10 honors in 3 of the last 4 editions.
Sha’Carri Richardson scored the USA’s only Top 10 slot in a very competitive year…
The ’23 Women’s Top 10 (the detailed voting chart appears at the end of the article):
1. Faith Kipyegon (Kenya)
With 31 of 32 possible 1st-place votes, one can safely call 29-year-old Kipyegon an overwhelming choice as AOY. She did it all at 1500/Mile, going undefeated, winning the Budapest gold, taking 4 DL wins including the final and demolishing both World Records (3:49.11/4:07.64). She also jumped into the 5000 pool for the first time in 8 years and scored a World Record 14:05.20, then added a Budapest gold there too. It’s her fourth time in the Top 10; she‘s the first Kenyan No. 1 since Vivian Cheruiyot in ’11.
2. Shericka Jackson (Jamaica)
Last year she was No. 4. Now the Caribbean sprinter has jumped up two spots thanks to an undefeated season in the 200 plus a solid 100 campaign. At Worlds, she took 100 silver in 10.72 and came back with the No. 2 furlong ever, her 21.41 scorcher giving her gold. Clockings of 21.48 and 21.57 (to win the DL Final) also made the all-time top 10. Over 100, she won 3 of 9 races and scored 3 of the top 5 times of the year, moving to a tie for No. 5 ever with her 10.65.
3. Femke Bol (Netherlands)
If it weren’t for Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s campaign last year, we would be hailing Femke Bol as the greatest 400 hurdler of all-time. In an epic undefeated season, she met all-comers, taking 6 Diamond League wins including the Final. In Budapest, her 51.70 won by over a second as she recorded the top 8 performances of the year, with 3 races under 52.00. Her fastest, 51.45, makes the 23-year-old No. 2 in history. It is her first appearance in the Top 10; she joins Sifan Hassan as the only Dutchwoman to make the cut.
4. Gudaf Tsegay (Ethiopia)
The 26-year-old Ranked in three distance races, but the 10,000 was her masterpiece. There she started out with a 29:29.73 to win the Ethiopian Trials, moving to No. 4 all-time. Then she showed her tactical chops in taking a fast-finishing World Champs race. At 5000 she saw mixed fortunes to Rank No. 3, running only 13th on tired legs in Budapest but taking the DL Final in a World Record-busting 14:00.21. She only raced once at 1500, but her 3:54.03 win in Rabat was enough to secure the No. 9 spot.
5. Sifan Hassan (Netherlands)
In her third Top 10 appearance, Hassan continued to demonstrate her unbelievable range, scoring World Rankings in everything from the 1500 to the marathon. Wins in the London (2:18:33) and Chicago (2:13:44 — No. 2 all-time) 26-milers bookended her season. In between won silver in the Budapest 5000, bronze in the 1500 (in 3:56.00), and hit disaster in the 10,000 when she fell while fighting for the win on the final stretch. Her 5/10K PRs of 14:13.42 and 29:37.80 both made the all-time top 10s.
6. Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela)
Once again, the Venezuelan triple jumper’s biggest competition was the Ghost Of Yulimar Rojas Past. Her 50-4½ (15.35) at the DL Final is only the No. 13 jump ever, but 11 of those jumps ahead of it on the all-time list are by Rojas herself. She went undefeated in 7 competitions, and captured her fourth world title (outdoors; the count is up to 7 with indoors). This is her fourth appearance in the Top 10 and comes after two straight runner-up spots.
7. Winfred Yavi (Bahrain)
But for one bad day in Florence where she faded then tumbled on the final lap to place 11th, the Kenyan-turned-Bahraini steeplechaser had a near-perfect season. She won 6 of 7 finals, including the World Champs and the DL Final, the latter in a blazing 8:50.66, the No. 2 time in history. She became the only runner to break 8:55 twice in a season. It is the 23-year-old’s first appearance in the Top 10.
8. Sha’Carri Richardson (USA)
The animated sprinter makes her first Top 10 appearance in a year where she was the top-ranked 100 performer, winning 7 of 9 finals and recording 5 of the top 11 times of the season. She captured 3 DL races, the USATF title in 10.82 after rounds of 10.71 and 10.75, and the World Champs in 10.65, equaling the No. 5 performer ever. At 200 she Ranked No. 3, taking the Budapest bronze in a PR 21.92.
9. Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic)
The Olympic 400 silver medalist put together a sterling campaign in ’23, winning 8 of her 9 finals, including crucial victories at the WC and the DL Final. Along the way she won three other DL races. She broke 50 some 8 times including heats, and her best of 48.76 in Budapest makes her the No. 11 performer ever. She is the first-ever Dominican woman to make the Top 10.
10. Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine)
Ukraine’s high jump queen dominated her event for the second straight year, winning 15 of 17 competitions. She rose to her best heights when it counted most, clearing 6-7 (2.01) to win Worlds and 6-8 (2.03) to take the DL Final. In all, she cleared 2m (6-6¾) in 9 different competitions and had 6 of the 8 highest leaps of the season. She is only the third Ukrainian to make the Top 10 since her nation’s independence in ’91, and the first in 25 years.
The Voting Chart
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Tot. | ||
| 1. Faith Kipyegon | 31 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 319 | 99.7% |
| 2. Shericka Jackson | — | 16 | 10 | 3 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | 263 | 82.2% |
| 3. Femke Bol | 1 | 12 | 10 | 6 | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | 255 | 79.7% |
| 4. Gudaf Tsegay | — | 2 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 204 | 63.7% |
| 5. Sifan Hassan | — | — | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | — | — | 144 | 45.0% |
| 6. Yulimar Rojas | — | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 134 | 41.9% |
| 7. Winfred Yavi | — | — | — | 1 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 119 | 37.2% |
| 8. Sha’Carri Richardson | — | — | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 83 | 25.9% |
| 9. Marileidy Paulino | — | — | — | — | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 54 | 16.9% |
| 10. Yaroslava Mahuchikh | — | — | — | — | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 52 | 16.2% |
| 11. Mária Pérez 50; 12. Valarie Allman 26; 13. Camryn Rogers 22; 14. Tigst Assefa 15; 15. Haruka Kitaguchi 13; 16. Chase Ealey 4; 17. Anna Hall 2; 18. Katie Moon 1. | ||||||||||||
| View All Years’ Top 10 Voting | View All The Women’s AOYs | Jump To Men’s Top 10 For 2023 |