Athletics: Bolt shortlisted for another Athlete of the Year award

Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates winning the Men's 4 x 100m at Rio. Photo / Getty Images

Jamaican super-sprinter Usain Bolt leads the list of six finalists announced for the 2016 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award.

Bolt won a third straight Olympic 100, 200 and 4x100-metre treble at the Rio Games in August and now has the chance to win the annual IAAF award a record sixth time.

The other two men are Briton Mo Farah, who got back-to-back 5,000/10,000 metre doubles in Rio; and South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk who bettered Michael Johnson's 400 metres world record for the gold.

The three women on the final list also bagged Olympic gold in Brazil: Ethiopian Alamz Ayana and Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk with world record performances in the 10,000 metres and hammer throw; while Jamaica's Elaine Thompson got a 100m and 200m sprint double.

The winners are announced early next month.