To celebrate the leading female athletes in the world, we are doing a feature, taking a closer look at what made them stand out in 2024. Here is the first part of the two-piece story, featuring the athletes ranked 10-6.
10. Nina Kennedy
Nina Kennedy has come a long way in the world of women’s pole vaulting, from a young athlete who set a World Junior Record years back to conquering the event at the senior level.
Despite the event arguably being at an all-time peak, she continued to prove her dominance, building on the momentum of her shared GOLD medal from the 2023 World Championships. The Australian standout showcased consistency and brilliance, affirming her place among the sport’s elite.
She passed on competing indoors as she was just recovering from injury, but with the Australian summer usually very early into the year, she opened up early enough at the Australian Championships in Adelaide, winning her fourth National title.
On that momentum, she built the rest of the season, relentlessly winning meets on her European tour on the Diamond League circuit. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Nina Kennedy soared to a World Lead (WL) when she won the GOLD medal in the women’s Pole Vault with a 4.90m leap!
By so doing, she became the first Australian to win Olympic GOLD in the event since Steven Hooker at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and also the first Australian woman to win GOLD, bettering the Silver medal won by Tatiana Grigorieva at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. She remained untouchable the rest of the season, recording only one loss and eventually lifting the Diamond League trophy.
9. Marileidy Paulino
Over the past two years, Marileidy Paulino has become the biggest star in the women’s 400m, gaining full ascent in 2024 after dominant victory at the World Championships the year before in Budapest.
In 2024, she took her game to new heights as she remained unbeaten over the distance, recording no losses on the Diamond League circuit in the buildup to the Olympic Games. She dropped her times progressively through the rounds in Paris, going on to win GOLD in a massive 48.17s, thus becoming the fourth fastest woman to ever run the event.
She broke the Olympic Record held by the legendary Marie-José Pérec right on her home turf, tumbling a set of records in the process and taking home Dominican Republic’s only GOLD from the outing.
With her win, Paulino became the first woman from the Dominican Republic to win Olympic GOLD and the first Olympian, male or female to take GOLD since Félix Sánchez in London 2012, when he dominated the 400m hurdles.
After a successful outing in Paris and a massive reception at home, she went on to win the Diamond League trophy and won the inaugural edition of the women-only Athlos Meet in New York to draw the curtains on the season.
8. Winfred Yavi
It took a while for World Champion Winfred Yavi to settle into the season, picking up an unusual 9th place finish in her opener at the Prefontaine Classic. Even with this, she raced scantily and managed to race herself to fitness just in time for the Olympic Games, with just one more Diamond League appearance after her season opener.
Against all the odds stacked against her, the Bahraini won the deepest women’s 3000m steeplechase race in history to add the Olympic title to her world crown at the Paris 2024 Games in a stunning display of experience and grit.
Running 8:52.76, the 24-year-old smashed an Olympic Record that was set when the event made its Olympic debut for women in 2008, denying Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai a second consecutive Olympic victory.
After her outing in Paris, Yavi really came close to breaking the World Record (WR) at the Rome Diamond League, coming 0.07s within the gargantuan mark. She clocked a world-leading 8:44.39, the second-fastest time in history, setting an Asian Record in a race which proceeded at World Record (WR) pace over the first 2000m before slowing significantly on the penultimate lap.
Seeing the late possibility of challenging the 2018 WR mark of 8:44.32 set by Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech, she attacked again and had she not faltered over the final hurdle, she might have surpassed it. Her season ended with a 2nd place finish at the Diamond League final in Brussels.
7. Ruth Chepngetich
Ruth Chepngetich left the world speechless when she became the first woman to go under 2:11 and 2:10 respectively at the Chicago Marathon in a new World Record (WR) of 2:09.56. The 2019 World Champion in the women’s marathon, won back-to-back titles at the 2021 and 2022 editions of the Chicago Marathon but lost to Sifan Hissan at the 2023 edition of the race. Entering the 2024 edition, she had one thing in mind, which was to reclaim her title and she absolutely delivered. The Kenyan decimated the entire field by a margin of almost 8 minutes, smashing the previous WR of 2:11.53 set last year by Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia by almost two minutes.
6. Julien Alfred
Julien Alfred’s 2024 season was nothing short of extraordinary. The 23-year-old sprinter started the season strong, winning the women’s 60m at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow with a then World Lead (WL) of 6.98s. In May, she found her rhythm at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, running a Season’s Best (SB) of 10.93s, but it was at the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston she truly made her mark, clocking a new lifetime best and equal Stadium Record of 10.78s to win the women’s 100m.
Not done with setting records, Alfred sped to a new National Record (NR) of 21.86s at the London Diamond, showcasing her depth just before the Olympics. In Paris, the St. Lucia athlete was the woman to beat, recording victories in her heat and semis with times of 10.95s and 10.84s – the fastest time overall – respectively. Alfred took things a notch higher in the final as she stunned the world by upsetting Sha’Carri Richardson to win her first Olympic GOLD in a new NR and PB of 10.72s, becoming St. Lucia’s first-ever Olympic medallist.
She also impressed in the 200m, claiming the Silver medal in 22.08s and ended her season as winner of the women’s 100m in the Diamond League Final.
