You left off the part where Sydney ran the fastest women's 400m in nearly 40 years, breaking a major barrier, registering the second-fastest time ever, and coming just 0.18 shy of the world record. Bol's fastest hurdles time this year was ninth in history, not even a PB, and 1.17 slower than the world record. Big difference.
That said, I think you make a valid point about the finalist aspect of the voting being a popularity contest. It's difficult to explain the outcome otherwise. Compared to last year, there doesn't seem to be consistency with how the voting turned out besides Sydney. Last year, these were the nominees:
- Julien Alfred
- Beatrice Chebet
- Faith Kipyegon
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
- Marileidy Paulino
- Gabby Thomas
This year, the nominees were:
- Femke Bol
- Beatrice Chebet
- Melissa Jefferson-Wooden
- Faith Kipyegon
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
Comparing those lists, I would say Chebet, Kipyegon, and Sydney had essentially the same seasons this year that they had last year in terms of major accomplishments and overall level of performance. Chebet won double gold and broke a WR both years, Kipyegon won gold-silver and broke the 1500m WR both years, and Sydney won individual + relay gold while running a historic time both years.
That means the biggest difference in the nominees this year were Bol and MJW compared to Alred, Paulino, and Thomas last year. Bol's 2025 season is mostly similar to Paulino's 2024; they both dominated the Diamond League, won an individual gold medal, and put down very fast times but nothing Earth-shattering (Paulino's 48.17 last year was 6th fastest in history at the time, but it was a bit slower than what Naser had run 5 years before). Like Thomas last year, Bol also won relay medals this year, but unlike Thomas, Bol's relay medals weren't gold. I'd say Bol's non-gold relay medals pretty much balance out with Paulino's 48.17 being more impressive than Bol's 51.54.
MJW took Alfred's place as the short sprint nominee. Objectively, MJW had a better 2025 than Alfred's 2024. MJW ran faster, won double-gold compared to Alfred's gold-silver, and MJW added a third gold in the relay.
Bol's 2025 was basically on par with Paulino's 2024, while MJW's 2025 was better than Alfred's 2024. Yet Alfred was a finalist over Paulino and everyone else besides Sydney last year, and Bol is the finalist over MJW and everyone else besides Sydney this year. Hard to explain such a difference without the influence of popularity/subjectivity.