María Pérez ranks ninth in World Athletics’ 2026 top ten

Race walker from Granada María Pérez has finished ninth in the 2026 World Athletics Female World Athlete of the Year ranking, after being crowned European half marathon race walk champion in Birmingham with the first world record in the event: 1:30:06. The ranking was made public on Wednesday 11 November and the winner will be announced on 29 November in Monaco.

The list places the athlete from Orce (Granada) among the ten best athletes in the world this year. Pérez is not among the three finalists for the award.

Birmingham 2026: European gold and first world record

At the European Championships in Birmingham, held in the summer of 2026, Pérez won the half marathon race walk, a newly introduced event that replaces the traditional 20 km race walk. There she set the first world record for the distance, with a time of 1:30:06.

In the same event, Paul McGrath took gold, so the European Championships delivered a golden double for race walking.

A career of doubles and medals

The recognition comes after several seasons of success. At the Budapest 2023 World Championships she won a gold double in the 20 km and 35 km race walk. At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games she won silver in the 20 km race walk and gold in the marathon race walk mixed relay alongside Álvaro Martín.

In 2025 she achieved another world double in Tokyo. With it she successfully defended the Budapest double, becoming the first race walker to achieve that feat and the first woman to repeat two individual world titles. That same year World Athletics gave her the award for Best Female Out-of-Stadium Athlete.

The three finalists for the award

The contenders for the prize are the Americans Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Masai Russell and Switzerland’s Audrey Werro. Jefferson-Wooden won the sprint double (100 m and 200 m) at the Ultimate Championship and set the world’s best times of the year: 10.62 in the 100 m and 21.47 in the 200 m, the latter the third best of all time.

Russell broke the 100 m hurdles world record with 12.09, completed an unbeaten season and won the Ultimate Championship and Diamond League titles. Werro, European 800 m champion, achieved the world’s best time of the year with 1:53.70, the third best of all time.

The rest of the women’s top ten

Ahead of Pérez, besides the three finalists, came Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa in fourth, winner this year of the London and Berlin marathons, and the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino in fifth, who once again dominated the 400 metres. Sixth place goes to Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich, world champion in cross country and in the half marathon.

The list is completed by American shot putter Chase Jackson, seventh, world indoor champion with 21.14 metres; Chinese javelin thrower Yan Ziyi, eighth, aged 18 and with 71.74 metres; and Canadian hammer thrower Camryn Rogers, tenth, Olympic gold medallist in Paris with a throw of 81.13 metres.

The men’s finalists

On 10 November World Athletics announced the three finalists for Male World Athlete of the Year: Brazil’s Alison dos Santos, Sweden’s Armand Duplantis and Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe. The men’s top ten is completed by Josh Kerr (Great Britain), Ja’Kobe Tharp (USA), Kenneth Bednarek (USA), Collen Kebinatshipi (Botswana), Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (Sri Lanka), Andy Díaz (Italy) and Kristjan Čeh (Slovenia).

How the finalists are chosen

The three finalists emerged from a vote involving fans, athletes, media and members of the World Athletics family, from an initial list of ten nominees. The winner will be announced on 29 November 2026 in Monaco, at the World Athletics Awards.