Hubert Lawrence | Warholm – A nearly perfect season

Norway’s Karsten Warholm is in pole position in the race to be crowned IAAF Male World Athlete of the Year. That’s my opinion. He capped a fast, undefeated season with a win over his prime 400-metre hurdle rivals in Doha, where he won his second World Championship gold medal. To top everything off, the Norwegian’s European record of 46.92 seconds on August 29 is the second-fastest time in history.

That time came in a duel with Rai Benjamin, son of the West Indies pace bowler Winston. Benjamin clocked a sensational 46.98 in that Zurich Diamond League match-up, the first race with two men under 47 seconds. The sublime effort made Benjamin equal number-three on the all-time list, as Abderrahman Samba of Qatar had run 46.98 in Paris last year.

In an event where the Jamaican record has stood at 47.60 seconds since Winthrop Graham set it 27 years ago, Warholm won six of his seven finals in faster times. His other race over the barriers took 47.85 seconds, which would have won the bronze medal in Doha.

Not everyone agrees with me.

As evidence, a track connoisseur friend of mine presented marathoner Eliud Kipchoge as a better choice for Male Athlete of the Year. The peerless Kenyan, Olympic champion in 2016, won both his marathons in 2019 and became the first man to break the two-hour barrier. That is a monumental achievement, but it won’t be ratified because Kipchoge was helped along by an army of pacemakers.

Others have put exciting US sprinter Noah Lyles in the ring. Lyles won the World Championships 200m in Doha, having run 19.50 seconds earlier in the year to move into position as the fourth-fastest furlong runner of all time.

In addition, Lyles won the Diamond League race in both the 100m and 200m.

The colourful 22-year-old ran that event in 9.86 seconds this year and was the only sprinter to administer a 2019 loss of eventual world champion Christian Coleman in the 100 metres.

The list of candidates also includes triple jumper Christian Taylor, pole vaulter Sam Kendricks, discus thrower Daniel Stahl, and 1500-metre ace Timothy Cheruiyot, who lost just one race all year.

There is an Athlete of the Year candidate who might suit Pan-Caribbean tastes a bit more. The tall Bahamian Steven Gardiner was undefeated over 400 metres and peaked perfectly in Doha to clock 43.48 seconds. Now he is the sixth-fastest 400 metre man of all time. The best clocking of the year, 43.45 by American Michael Norman, came in April.

Sadly, Norman succumbed to injury in the Doha semi-final round.

Argument for gayle

One angry Jamaican told me that Tajay Gayle, the surprise Doha long jump champion, should have made the list of candidates.

After all, many of them suffered multiple losses as Gayle did before he uncorked his massive 8.69-metre winning leap to capture the gold medal. However, even that dissenting voice didn’t vote for Gayle to be World Athlete of the Year.

If this conversation was about the Performance of the Year, my vote would go to Joe Kovacs, who bombed his last shot in Doha out to 22.91 metres – joint number 3 all-time – to snatch the gold medal away from fellow American Ryan Crouser by a centimetre. However, the choice is clear.

The best athlete of the entire season was the undefeated Warholm, whose winning times average 47.33!!!

- Hubert Lawrence is a public relations specialist who has attended Boys and Girls’ Championships since 1980.