Yearender 2021: Thompson-Herah, the queen of athletics track

At Tokyo, Thompson-Herah produced one of the finest sprint seasons in history this year, retaining her Olympic 100M and 200M titles and adding a third gold medal in the 4x100m relay.

On top of her Olympic triple, she also clocked world-leading times of 10.54 and 21.53 over 100M and 200M respectively, moving to second on the world all-time lists and coming within touching distance of the long-standing world records as she was rightly adjudged Women’s Athlete of The Year by World Athletics.

The corresponding honour in the men’s section went to Norway’s Karsten Warholm, who uncorked one of the most remarkable performances in athletics history when he stormed to gold in the 400M hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics.

Having already broken the world record with 46.70 in Oslo in the lead-up to the Games, Warholm exceeded all expectations in the Japanese capital to claim gold in a stunning world record of 45.94. In a race of incredible depth, the top three athletes finished inside the pre-2021 world record.

The shared high jump victory between Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi became one of the biggest talking points of the Olympic Games – not only for everything it represented in their own individual careers, having both battled serious injuries since the last Games, but mainly for the act of respect and sportsmanship between two friends as the duo won the inspiration award.

Year 2021 saw India making giant strides in world athletics with javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra clinching the first individual gold medal for the country.

The country had more to cheer when ace Indian long jumper Anju Bobby George was crowned Woman of the Year at the 2021 by World Athletics.

Anju’s efforts in advancing the sport in India as well as inspiring more women to follow in her footsteps make her more than a worthy recipient of this year’s award.

With Olympics being pushed by a year, the World Athletics Championships also followed the path and as the New Year dawns, all eyes will be on the big event which will now be held from July 15 to 24 in Oregon, US.