'This is pure racism' - Enraged fans call out World Athletics Awards council after Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Beatrice Chebet snub

Following World Athletics official announcement of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol as the finalists for the 2025 Female Track Athlete of the Year Award, athletics fans and enthusiasts have been raging with just one question: Where is Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Beatrice Chebet?

This bewilderment of their snub has ravaged the track community, considering the two most dominant female track athletes of the year, that capped their season with historic performances at the World Championships in Tokyo, were not even considered as finalists for the most prestigious award by the World Athletics Council and Family.

The voting procedure indicated after the initial Top 5 nominee list was announced, stated there's a three-way process to determine the finalists. The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans logged their decisions online via the World Athletics social media platforms.

The council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result, meaning the governing body has the majority of the say.

The World Athletics Award is aimed at recognizing the most outstanding athletes of the season for their unmatched performances among their peers. Like many sports awards, there are possibilities of controversy stirring over the selections.

However, in this instance, the bias and preference displayed by the World Athletics Council for the Female Track Athlete of the Year were so glaring that it was hard for track enthusiasts to overlook as seen in some reactions below.

Honestly, the World Athletics Awards is now starting to lose its credibility, as their selections and the predictability of their choice of winners in recent years have been questioned quite a lot. This is just the final straw for fans and the council definitely hit an all-time low with their exclusion of Jefferson-Wooden and Chebet.