WHILE THE MEN’S POY process yielded no fewer than 26 performances which received votes in our 5-4-3-2-1 scoring system, the women’s side kicked out a mere 12 candidates. It was a vintage year for high-end performances.
1. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s 47.78 WL/WC win, 79 (10 No. 1s)
You may think you’ve seen Syd The Kid here before, but you’d only be half right. She was No. 1 in both ’21 & ’22, then No. 2 last year. But all those were for World Records in the 400 with hurdles. This year’s honor is for a mere American Record made without barriers in the way. Factor in the 623m of altitude that Marita Koch had when she ran her 47.60 in Canberra way back in ’85 and SML is right there. That WR was almost 14 when she was born.
2. Beatrice Chebet’s 13:58.06 WR, 64 (6)
If you wanted a quick time in the women’s 5000 in ’25, the Pre Classic was the place to be. Eugene — as it has so often in the past — proved to be a yielder of fast times, and 7 of the first 10 scored a seasonal or lifetime best for the 12.5 laps. Nobody got a better best than did Chebet, who moved to No. 1 on the all-time world list, becoming the first ever to break the 14:00 barrier. She trailed only McLaughlin-Levrone in receipt of No. 1 votes.
3. Faith Kipyegon’s 3:48.68 WR, 38 (1)
Chebet’s Kenyan teammate got a WR of her own at Hayward Field, adding another sub-4:00 to her collection. She owns all 3 of them: 3:49.11 in Florence (June 02, ’23); 3:49.04 Paris (July 07, ’24); 3:48.68 Eugene (July 05, ’25). All 3 were WRs, of course. Like the two preceding marks, Kipyegon’s latest mark featured a huge margin of victory, 2.76 seconds. Florence had a ginormous 7.98 and Paris a mere 1.79.
4. Kipyegon’s 8:07.04 “WR” 23 (1)
There are two kinds of World Records: official WRs (those ratified by the IAAF/WA) and ones we consider “real,” because we have applied strict statistical observations — and removed political considerations in publishing our WRs. At this point we’re down to a pair of unreal marks: 10.49 by Flojo in the 100 and 8:06.11 by Junxia Wang in the 3000. As far as we’re concerned, the Chinese 3000 mark doesn’t meet muster and Kipyegon claimed the WR this year.
5. Anna Hall’s 7032 WL, 19
Nobody else was remotely on the same page as the American 7-eventer in ’25. Nobody other than Hall was on the 6900- or 6800-pages and only one joined her at 6700. And Hall, it should be pointed out, had all 3 of her scores over 6800, topped by an historic 7032. In a year in which so many WRs were logged it was definitely of POY caliber. Her No. 3 score, 6888, has only been topped by a dozen other performers, ever.
Other Vote-Getters
6. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s 10.61 WL/WC win, 16
7. Camryn Rogers’ 80.51/264-1 WL/WC win, 14
8. Valarie Allman’s 73.52/241-2 WL, 11 (1)
9. Masai Russell’s 12.17 WL, 6
10. Ditaji Kambundji’s 12.24 WC win, 5
=11. Chebet’s 14:54.36 WC win, 1
=11. Jefferson-Wooden’s 21.68 WL/WC win 1 ◻︎
