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2015 Wing Awards - Nominees

11/10/2015
 

INDIANAPOLIS -- Voting is now open for the 2015 Wing Awards. There are new categories for 2015, including the Best World Championships Field Performer, Best World Championships Track Performer, Inspirational Performance of the Year, Breakthrough Athlete of the Year and Relay Performance of the Year.


Full information on the nominees is below and fans can vote on USATF Zone. Voting remains open until 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, November 27.


Best World Championships Field Performer

Joe Kovacs: Gold medal, men’s shot put – with a throw of 21.93m, Kovacs became the first world champion for Team USA in 2015.

 

Ashton Eaton: Gold medal, decathlon – with a decathlon world record in the 400m and a World Championships decathlon best in the 110-meter hurdles, Eaton defended his world title in the decathlon and broke his own world record.

 

Christian Taylor: Gold medal, men’s triple jump – In a battle with rival Pedro Pablo Pichardo, Taylor utilized his final jump of 18.21m to set a new American record and world lead to win the gold.

 

Tianna Bartoletta: Gold medal, women’s long jump – Bartoletta pushed the competition as she jumped a new personal best and world lead of 7.14m to take home the gold medal 10 years after her first world title.

 

Michelle Carter: Bronze medal, women’s shot put – the first to put Team USA on the podium in Beijing, Carter threw 19.76m to take home bronze.

 

Lex Gillette: Gold medal, T11 men’s long jump – Gillette leaped 6.38m to take home gold at the IPC World Championships.

 

Best World Championships Track Performer

Allyson Felix: Gold medal, women’s 400 meters; silver medals women’s 4x100m and 4x400m – Felix was Team USA’s only individual world champion on the track and also took home two relay team silver medals.

 

Justin Gatlin: Silver medals, men’s 100 and 200 meters – Gatlin took home two silver medals for Team USA, running 9.80 and 19.74 for the silver in the 100m and 200m.

 

LaShawn Merritt: Gold medal, men’s 4x400m; silver medal, men’s 400 meters – ran an incredible performance in the men’s 400m final, chasing down over half the field in the closing 100m to earn silver. Anchored Team USA men’s 4x400m to victory for the only relay gold for Team USA.

 

Tori Bowie: Bronze medal, women’s 100 meters – After cutting her finger on the starting blocks prior to the final, Bowie was able to refocus and take home bronze in her first World Championships appearance.

 

Emily Infeld: Bronze medal, women’s 10,000 meters – In her first World Championships appearance, Infeld stunned the crowd when she surged toward the line and edged just ahead of teammate Molly Huddle to take the bronze in the women’s 10,000 meters at 31:43.49.

 

Richard Browne: Browne took to the track in stunning fashion, breaking world records in the T44 100m and 200m en route to double gold at the IPC World Championships. Browne also took home silver as part of Team USA’s 4x100m relay.

 

Inspirational Performance of the Year

Champion B. Goldy: At a spry 98 years old, Champ competed in four individual events at the USATF Masters Outdoor Championships, setting records with every performance.

 

Aries Merritt: Before the start of the World Championships, Merritt shared his impending kidney transplant, scheduled just days after Closing Ceremonies. Merritt, competing on just 20% kidney function, won the bronze medal in Beijing, and underwent a successful kidney transplant three days later.

 

Don Pellmann: Pellmann, a 100-year-old masters athlete who competes in the outdoor heptathlon, set world records in six events at the Senior Olympics, earning USATF Athlete of the Week honors.

 

Kate Hall: Hall took down a 39-year-old girls' high school long jump record with her leap of 6.83m/22-5 at the New Balance Nationals in June, erasing the oldest girls' high school record in track and field. Hall's record-breaking long jump surpassed the IAAF standard for the 2016 Olympic Games, making her the No. 6-ranked American female long jumper in 2015 and 16th in the world. Hall competes as one of the top long jumpers in the country while fighting Type 1 diabetes.

 

Ajee Wilson: Wilson was injured before she toed the line in the women’s 800 meters at USATF Outdoors, but she wasn’t about to let an injury…or a wayward shoe hamper her. With just 200 meters to go, Wilson lost her shoe and still eked out a third-place finish, good enough to land her a spot on Team USA. Unfortunately, Wilson was unable to compete in Beijing, but her gutsy performance lives on.

 

Mikey Brannigan: At the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships, Brannigan captured his first world title, crossing in 3:56.50, a T20 Men's 1500m championship record.

 

Breakthrough Athlete of the Year

Shamier Little: Two-time NCAA 400mH Champion Little is taking the world stage by storm. Going from World Junior Champion in 2014, Little cemented her place among the world’s hurdling elite with a victory at the USATF Outdoor Championships and a silver medal at the World Championships.

 

Jenna Prandini: Prandini won the NCAA 100m title and finished as the runner-up in the 200m and long jump in 2015. She shocked the field in the women’s 200m at the USATF Outdoor Championships and won silver as a member of the 4x100m relay in Beijing. Prandini is also a finalist for the Bowerman Award.

 

Joe Kovacs: Kovacs had a remarkable 2015, continuing his winning ways after capturing the USATF Outdoor title in Sacramento the previous season. Kovacs recorded eight victories in 2015, including the USATF Outdoor Championships, the overall Diamond League title and his first World Championship.

 

Candace Hill: Hill ran 10.98 at the Brooks PR Invitational to set the 100m high school record. Hill won the sprint double at the IAAF World Youth Championships, setting a World Youth best in the 200m in 22.43 after winning the 100m in 11.08. She became the first U.S. athlete to sweep the 100 and 200 at an IAAF WYC event.

 

Vashti Cunningham: Cunningham, despite being just a teenager, registered the top three high jumps of the year by an American woman. Cunningham bettered her own national high school record, set the American Junior record and tied the World Youth record by clearing 1.96m/6-5 for gold at the Pan American Junior Games.

 

Trayvon Bromell: Bromell’s second-place finish at USATF Outdoors made him the first teenager in U.S. history to make the men’s 100 meters for a World Championship and the first U.S. teenager to make the men’s 100 meters for a World Championship or Olympic Games since 1980. His time of 9.84 in the heats earned him the title of 10th fastest man in history. In Beijing, Bromell tied Canada’s Andre DeGrasse for the World Championships bronze medal with his time of 9.92.

 

Relay Performance of the Year

Women’s DMR at World Relays: Treniere Moser, Sanya Richards-Ross, Ajee’ Wilson and Shannon Rowbury ran 10:36.50 to destroy the IAAF’s previously listed world best of 10:48.38, run by Villanova in 1988.

 

Men’s 4x100m at World Relays: Michael Rodgers, Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay and Ryan Bailey took down a Bolt-anchored Jamaican relay to tie the American record of 37.38 and clinch the Golden Baton.

 

Men’s DMR at World Relays: The U.S. team of Kyle Merber, Brycen Spratling, Brandon Johnson and Ben Blankenship turned in a world-beating performance, with Blakenship’s grit in the 1,600m leg bringing home a world record of 9:15.50.

 

Men’s 4x400m at World Championships: LaShawn Merritt anchored Team USA 4x400m relay to victory, joining David Verburg, Tony McQuay and Bryshon Nellum in Team USA’s lone relay gold from Beijing.

 

Women’s 4x800m at World Relays: In the most dominating performance of the meet, Chanelle Price, Maggie Vessey, Molly Ludlow and Alysia MontaƱo won in 8:00.62 to break the American and meet record.

 

 


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