South African eyes will, however, be on Wayde van Niekerk who has been shortlisted in the men’s world athlete of the year category alongside the British distance runner Mo Farah and Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim.

The resident of Bloemfontein will be hoping to claim the honors as he came closest to achieving a double triumph after he first retained his 400m title with relative ease, winning in 43.98. Two days later, he finished a close second in the 200m in 20.11, missing out on gold by just 0.02.

The World Athlete of the Year women's category will be contested by World 10 000m champion and world 5 000m silver medallist Almaz Ayana, World pole vault champion Ekaterini Stefanidi, and World heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam.

The 800m world champion, Caster Semenya, missed out on a nomination but will also be attending the event, not as a recipient of an award but rather to show her support for compatriot Van Niekerk.

The IAAF Athletics Awards 2017 will take place at the Grimaldi Forum tomorrow evening, with the ceremonies beginning at 18:30 South African time.