As the announcement of the 2014 World Athletes of the Year draws closer, here is a closer look at the three athletes shortlisted for the women's award: Valerie Adams, Genzebe Dibaba and Dafne Schippers.
Genzebe Dibaba
At the end of any outdoor season, it’s easy to overlook some of the performances from the indoor season. But Genzebe Dibaba’s feats in the first few months of 2014 are difficult to forget in a hurry.
The Ethiopian middle-distance runner had shown flashes of brilliance in the past, winning the 2012 world indoor title and setting a national 1500m record that summer. This year, though, Dibaba was better than ever.
In her first race of 2014, she smashed the world indoor 1500m record in Karlsruhe with 3:55.17. The last time anyone ran faster outdoors was in 1997.
Five days later in Stockholm, she was in record-breaking form again as she obliterated the world indoor 3000m record with 8:16.60, the fastest time in the world under any conditions since 1993.
The following week, she set a two miles world indoor best of 9:00.48 in Birmingham, taking six seconds off the previous mark.
Her indoor season was capped by winning the world indoor 3000m title in Sopot.
Outdoors, Dibaba won the 3000m at the IAAF Continental Cup and posted world-leading marks over 5000m and 2000m.
Read the full article at iaaf.org »
Video: Athlete Of The Year 2014 Female Finalists (IAAF)
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