IAAF announces Dibaba, Eaton as athletes of the year

Decathlete Ashton Eaton of the U.S. and Ethiopia's 1,500 metres world champion Genzebe Dibaba have been named the men's and women's World Athletes of the Year for 2015, the sport's world governing body IAAF has announced.

"My focus in 2016 will be the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland and as preparation for that I will try to break the world indoor mile record in Stockholm on 17 February".

Eaton, the 27-year-old husband of Canadian heptathlon star Brianne Theisen-Eaton, scored 9,045 points in Beijing in his first decathlon in two years to beat his own world mark.

In Beijing, Genzebe was majestic through all three rounds of the 1500m, winning every race comfortably, and she also took a 5000m bronze medal.

Ashton Eaton

"I'm grateful and thankful to the IAAF for excellent competitions, the canvases that allow us to display our work".

World champion Ashton Eaton can add another accolade to his growing pile, as the Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year was named IAAF World Athlete of the Year Thursday. She paid a tribute to fellow athletes Dafine Schippers and Anita Wlodarczyk. "Athletes spend the most vigorous years of human life, arguably called the "best years", working to hone their abilities", he said in a statement.

Dibaba also thanked those that voted for her to win the award.

Dibaba has also been rewarded for a stellar 2015 in which she broke the 1500m world record and won gold at the World Championships.

The annual awards dinner in Monaco was cancelled because of the corruption and doping issues affecting the sport.

After Eaton and Dibaba were revealed as the 2015 winners, Coe said: "While the athletics family is not gathering together as usual in Monaco, we rightly celebrate the marvellous 2015 achievements of the athletes".