This week in Athletics, we’ve had the World Athletics awards in Monaco crown the athletes of the year, an update on the Grand Slam Track financial saga, teams announced for the Eurocross championships in Portugal, and a former World Champion has been cleared of doping in the most unlikely of ways.

 

Duplantis and McLaughlin win big in Monaco

It was a star-studded event in the principality of Monaco on Sunday night as the best of the track and field world gathered for the annual World Athletics awards. 

Armand Duplantis was recognised with the male athlete of the year award following his three world record breaches and World Indoor and Outdoor titles. 

The Swede has already been awarded the same honour twice, in 2020 and 2022. 

This coincided with the Pole Vaulter also being awarded field athlete of the year. 

In the Women’s category, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who took the same title in 2022, was highlighted for her immense switch from the 400m hurdles to the 400m flat, where she claimed a World Championships title. 

Spain's Maria Perez and Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe were awarded the ‘out of stadium athlete of the year’ gongs in recognition of their achievements in race walking and Marathon running, respectively. 

Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya was named Men’s track athlete of the year after backing up his Olympic title in 2024 with a World crown in Tokyo.

Australian Nicola Olyslagers won women’s field athlete of the year following her titles at the indoor and outdoor World Championships. 

17-year-old Kenyan steeplechaser Edmund Serem won this year’s World Athletics male Rising Star award. Serem had his breakout moment in an early-season victory at the Kip Keino Classic and a World bronze in Tokyo, running the fourth-fastest time of the year at the Monaco Diamond League in 8:04.

Jiale Zhang also scooped the award, improving the world U20 hammer record to 77.24m at the Chinese Championships and also secured bronze at the World Championships in Tokyo.

Belgian steeplechaser Tim Van de Velde was named the winner of the International Fair Play Award following his selfless act to help another athlete in the middle of a race at the World Championships. 

Ruth Jepchumba Bundotich has been announced as the recipient of the 2025 World Athletics Woman of the Year Award, honouring her commitment to athlete development and contributions to the growth of women’s athletics in Kenya and globally.

Following his Daughter Kate’s incredible World Indoor Bronze and World Outdoor silver, Irish combined events coach Michael O’Connor, has been named the recipient of the 2025 Coaching Achievement Award.

 

Grand Slam Track begins to run out of road 

It’s fair to say the birth and near-death of Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track series has been one of the major talking points in the track world this season.

The 4 meet league, which saw the world's best track athletes compete for prize pools going up to £150,000 for the winner, was pitched by many as the future of the sport.

Alarm bells rang on the meet's opening night as athletes walked out into a mostly empty stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. The alarm bells it raised for many were also felt by those who had given a verbal agreement to invest in the league. They decided to withdraw their investment after the opening event. 

This was kept under wraps by Johnson as two more events in Florida and Philadelphia were held with significantly greater success. But the damage had already been done, and just days before the league's final meet in Los Angeles, Johnson took to social media to announce that the event was cancelled to give the series the best chance of returning in 2026. 

Following the cancellation, news began to filter through that vendors, athletes, and venues had not been paid, and that the league was missing its deadlines.

Following months of scrambling, Grand Slam secured a $5.5 million investment to begin paying athletes. 

This money did not cover all costs, however and forced the league to produce a proposal last week asking that all vendors and athletes could be paid 50% of their original fees. A unanimous agreement on this would see the deal go ahead and allow the league to function in 2026.

However,  a singular entity disregarding the proposal would see it fall apart with claims that a rejection could force the league into bankruptcy, leaving everyone out of pocket.

The deal was rejected. The person who rejected it? 

World Athletics 

The governing body is owed $30,000 in licensing fees and has told Grand Slam that all athletes and vendors must be paid in full. 

The league's future now seems in jeopardy, with time running out for Johnson to not only save his competition but also his reputation. 

 

Former World Champ cleared of doping

2022 long jump world champion Jianan wang, the first Asian athlete to win a jumps world title, failed a doping test in November 2024  

China’s anti-doping agency claimed wang failed the test after inhaling contaminated air produced from the nebuliser treatment of a relative whom Wang had been visiting in the hospital.

Nebuliser treatment sees liquid medication turned into air to allow patients to inhale it directly into the lungs.

Following a review of hospital CCTV footage. The Athletics Integrity Unit has cleared wang of any wrongdoing.

GB Squad announced for Eurocross 

The official GB&NI team for next month's European Cross Country Championships has been revealed. Following two rounds of the UKA Cross Country Challenge in Cardiff and Liverpool, the squad has been selected from the best athletes to run in the short and long-course trials.

The squad will head to Lagoa, Portugal, to compete on 14th December. 

 

Senior Women

Phoebe Anderson (Laurie Henes, Herne Hill)

Abbie Donnelly (Rob Lewis, Lincoln Wellington)

Izzy Fry (Chris and Sonia McGeorge, Newbury)

Cari Hughes (Cardiff)

Megan Keith (Ross Cairns, Inverness)

Poppy Tank (City of Plymouth)

 

Senior Men

Scott Beattie (Andrew Hobdell, Morpeth)

Jacob Cann (Western Tempo)

Joe Hudson (Alan Buckley, Keighley & Craven)

Calum Johnson (Alan Storey, Gateshead)

Rory Leonard (Andrew Hobdell, Morpeth)

Richard Slade (Matthew Seddon, Chiltern)

 

Mixed Team Relay

Holly Dixon (Cambridge)

Ava Lloyd (Trevor Painter, Wigan & District)

Jack Higgins (Mark Hookway, Tonbridge)

Callum Elson (Andrew Hobdell, Cambridge & Coleridge)

 

U23 Women

India Barwell (Lincoln Wellington AC)

Rebecca Flaherty (Matt Seddon, Bingley Harriers)

Megan Harris (Hayley Hemmings, Chelmsford)

Emily Parker (Kyle Bennett, Poole AC)

Mia Waldmann (Mark Booth, Reading)

Bea Wood (City of Salisbury)

 

U23 Men

Will Barnicoat (Aldershot, Farnham & District)

Jenson Connell (Andrew Henderson, Leeds City)

Joel Doye (Woodford Green Essex Ladies)

Sam Hodgson (Patrick McGrath, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow)

Matthew Ramsden (Edmund Finucane, Blackburn)

Finley Proffitt (Dean Miller, Trafford)

 

U20 Women

Innes FitzGerald (Gavin Pavey, Exeter Harriers)

Isabel Holt (Andrew Henderson, Blackburn Harriers)

Beth Lewis (Andrew Railton, City of York)

Eliza Nicholson (Joe Franklin, Blackheath & Bromley)

Zara Redmond (Sarah Dempsey, Kilbarchan)

Lizzie Wellsted (Andrew Henderson, Colchester)

 

U20 Men

Michael Clark (Jane Clark, City of Norwich)

Jonson Hughes (Andrew Henderson, Rotherham)

Alex Lennon (Nick Hancock, Sutton & District)

Quinn Miell-Ingram (Wendy Miell-Ingram, Radley)

William Rabjohns (Mark Pauley, Poole AC)

Miles Waterworth (Bruce Warren, Brighton Phoenix)