Alkass Digital
Track & Field News, the international magazine on athletics, ranked Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba as the second best behind Men’s Athlete-of the-Year Eliud Kipchoge.
According to a list of top 10 male athletes, released by Track & Field News, the star 400m hurdler received 278 points whereas the marathon world record holder, Kipchoge received 299 points.
The voting was done by a 31-member international panel selected by the magazine for the 60th year.
The Kenyan, Kipchoge, achieved several firsts during his highly successful year. He became the first marathoner ever to become the Athlete-of-the-Year and also this was the fifth year in a row that he made it to the rack & Field News Top 10 list.
The World Record in Berlin (2:01:39) was the highlight of the year for the tireless 33-year-old.
The Qatari, on the other hand, also had an amazing year, being undefeated in nine races.
The 23-year-old become the second man ever to break 47 second barrier and his 46.98 in Paris leaves him just 0.20 shy of the all-time best, held by Kevin Young of the USA.
The top Qatari athlete also won the IAAF Continental Cup and also struck a double at the Asian Games, winning the 400 hurdles and the 400 relay.
Samba was not alone in the top 10, as Qatar’s world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim also found a spot in the list.
Despite not competing since July, due to an injury, the gravity defying star was named the 10th best.
Before his season was cut short, the IAAF Athlete-of-the-Year in 2017, showed the world that he is the one to beat, jumping a world-leading 2.40-metre mark twice.
Barshim also had four of the five highest jumps of the year.
This was the 27-year-old athlete’s third year in the Track & Field News’ Top 10 list.
The 70-year-old monthly magazine, which ceased the print version in December last year, featured Qatar’s Barshim on its last print issue - the annual ranking edition on its cover as 2017 Man of the Year.