Neeraj Chopra among World's Athlete of the Year nominees, leading as per social media votes

Olympic and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was on Thursday named as one of the 11 nominees for the 2023 men's World Athlete of the Year award.

The 11 nominees were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.

The nominations reflect some of the standout performances achieved at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, one-day meeting circuits, Label road races and other events around the world, the international governing body of the sport said.

The other nominees are shot putter Ryan Crouser of USA, pole vaulters Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, 3000m steeplechaser Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco, Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway (1500m/5000m), marathoner Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, decathlete Pierce LePage of Canada, sprinter Noah Lyles of USA, race walker Alvaro Martin of Spain, long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece and 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm of Norway.

A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.

The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the World Athletics social media platforms.

Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube this week; a 'like' on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube or a retweet on X will count as one vote.

Neeraj Chopra is currently leading in terms social media as his image has got over 21k retweets on X so far.

The World Athletics Council's vote will count for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family's votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.

Voting for the World Athletes of the Year closes at midnight of October 28. At the conclusion of the voting process, five women and five men finalists will be announced by World Athletics on November 13-14.

The winners will be revealed on World Athletics' social media platforms on December 11.