I like how they don't necessarily give it to the guy who win's Olympic gold (unlike NCAA awards which always go to the winning team/runner/coach), but if it was me I'd make Kemboi #1.
Yes, because of his legal problems Kemboi didn't really have a season (his only other steeple beside the Olympics or Trials was a 4th in Rome).
But he won his 2nd Olympic title in impressive fashion to become the first Kenyan with 2 Olympic steeple golds.
The two biggest races of the year in the steeple in my mind are the Kenyan Trials and the Olympic games and Kemboi won* them all.
Well he technically lost the Kenyan trials but that was only after the showman/jerk (depending on if you are a fan or not) let Kipruto win it. Clealry Kemboi made this next to impossible as he barely raced and lost certain races on purpose.
Does anyone have the language that TFN uses to describe the criteria they use in their rankings?
I guess if it was like tennis one would say that Kemboi didn't compete enough to have a high ranking (maybe the IAAF should mandate a minnimum # of races) but Kemboi is far from a 1-hit wonder.
To those of you complaining about Jager at #10 even though he was 6th in the Olympics. Please realize he was #8 on the year in terms of time and 2 guys below him on time went 1-2 at the Olympics.