Barshim humbled and honoured to be in IAAF list

Bengaluru, October 3: World high jump champion Mutaz Essa Barshim is happy to have his name feature in the list of 10 male nominees for the International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) World Athlete of the Year awards.

The nominees were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of the IAAF.

And the male nominees for the 2017 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award are...#AthleticsAwards pic.twitter.com/lNimguGAaG

— IAAF (@iaaforg) October 2, 2017

The voting process to find out the 2017 World Athletes of the Year has started and the award will be presented at the IAAF Gala in Monaco on November 24.

Some of the other big names in the list includes that of British 10,000M world champion Mo Farah and South Africa's 400M star Wayde van Niekerk and Barshim feels honoured to be part of an elite gang.

"Humbled and honoured to be nominated with such great athletes," Barshim tweeted.

بطل العالم !

شعور تعجز عن وصفه الكلمات❤️❤️❤️ 🇶🇦🇶🇦🇶🇦🙏🏽

Thank you #London2017 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/JTjdItacF8

— معتز برشم ♕Barshim (@mutazbarshim) August 14, 2017

Barshim is in good form since winning the silver at Rio Olympics last year.

The 26-year-old won the yellow metal at the London World Championships in August and also clinchhed the IAAF Diamond League trophy this season.

His personal best of 2.43 in the 2014 IAAF Brussels Diamond League meeting is second only to Cuba's Javier Sotomayor's long-standing record of 2.45M set in 1992.

The Qatari has spoken about his desire to break it.

"The world record is definitely on my mind. Next summer is a good chance to really focus on it," Barshim said.