John Wesley Harding wrote:
2001 - Alan Webb - 3:53 national high school mile record at Pre Classic
2002 - Paula Radcliffe - World XC champ, 10,000m Euro record (30:01), first Marathon World Best in Chicago (2:17:18)
2003 - Kenenisa Bekele - World XC long/short course double, dethrones Geb with sub-13 last 5k in World Champs 10k
2004 - Hicham El Guerrouj - Wins first 1500/5k Olympic double since Paavo Nurmi in 1924
2005 - Rashid Ramzi - Doper Extraordinaire wins first 800/1500 global championship double since Peter Snell in 1964
2006 - Deena Kastor - Wins London Marathon in 2:19:36 AR after winning Chicago the previous fall
2007 - Bernard Lagat - Wins 1500/5k World Championship double for U.S.A.
2008 - German Fernandez - 4:00/8:34 one-day double at California State Meet, followed by 8:34 2mile HSR
2009 - Galen Rupp - Dominates NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships (including stopping to retie shoe) before winning U.S. 10k title
2010 - Chris Solinsky - Runs shocking 26:59 10k (first non-African sub-27), followed by 12:55-56 three times on DL circuit
2011 - David Rudisha - New 800 WR-holder (2010) continues his dominance with first global title and 1:41.33 SB
2012 - Cam Levins - Southern Utah standout has dream season while logging 150+ mpw, repeatedly employs big kicks to defeat all NCAA challengers
2013 - Mo Farah - Wins global 5k/10k double for the 2nd straight season and clocks a stunning 3:28.81 British 1500 record
2014 - Mary Cain - Wins U.S. Sr. Indoor 1500 at 17 years old, 2nd in U.S. Sr. Outdoor 1500 (18 y.o.), wins World Jr. Champs 3k
2015 - Genzebe Dibaba - Breaks Qu’s impossible 1500 WR with 3:50.07, wins World Championship gold with ~1:57 final 800
2016 - Matt Centrowitz, Jr. - Wins World Indoor 1500 and Olympic 1500–the first U.S. champ in the event since 1908
2017 - Eliud Kipchoge - Already being called the Marathon G.O.A.T., he clocks 2:00:25 at Nike’s Breaking2 event + wins Berlin in 2:03
2018 - Shelby Houlihan - Wins DL 1500s in Eugene and Lausanne (3:57.34 SB), double 1500/5k U.S. Champ, 14:34 AR 5k
2019 - Jakob Ingebrigtsen - Still 18 years old for most of the season, clocks 3:30.16/13:02 and places top-5 in both events at Doha WCs
2020 - Joshua Cheptegei - Sets WRs at 5k (12:35) & 10k (26:11) with controversial wavelight technology
2021 - Cole Hocker - 19-20 year old American wins NCAA titles indoors (Mile, 3k) and outdoors (1500), beats Centrowitz in anticipated Trials clash and places 6th at Olympics in 3:31.4 PB
Open to suggestions.