MONACO -- World Champions Ashton Eaton and Christian Taylor were named IAAF World Athlete of the Year finalists on the men’s side after record-breaking performances at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China.

Eaton (Bend, Oregon) improved his world record in the decathlon to win the gold medal at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, scoring 9,045 points to top the field by more than 300 points. In the process, he set a World Championships decathlon record of 10.23 seconds in the 100 meters, and broke a 40-year-old world decathlon record with a time of 45.00 in the 400.

Taylor (Fayetteville, Georgia) won his second World Championship title in the men’s triple jump, leaping an American record 18.21m to win the world title and set a new world leading mark. Taylor captured his fourth consecutive Diamond League title and registered two jumps over 18 meters in competition for only the second time in athletics history, and had four jumps over 18 meters on the season.

Both men are nominated for USATF’s Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year. The winners of the Jesse Owens and Jackie Joyner-Kersee Athletes of the Year will be announced on Thursday, Nov. 19.