Bolt in running for male athlete of the year

MONACO,CMC- Sprint superstar Usain Bolt is among three athletes on the final short list for the 2015 IAAF World male Athlete of the Year award.

The Jamaican sprinter has been selected along with the American pair of Ashton Eaton, a decathlete and Christian Taylor, a triple jumper.

Bolt successfully defended his 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in August and clocked a world-leading time of 19.55 when winning the 200m.

Eaton won his second successive gold medal at the World Championships, setting a decathlon world record of 9045 points.

Taylor won the triple jump title in Beijing with a North American record of 18.21m, the second-best jump in history.

Last month the IAAF Family, which includes top athletes and agents, IAAF officials and selected media representatives from around the world, was asked to select nine men and nine women from ten categories.

The top-voted athletes in each category formed the long list, from which an international panel of 10 experts selected the three finalists.