Usain Bolt, Ashton Eaton and Christian Taylor are the contenders to be named men’s IAAF World Athlete of the Year.
Jamaican Bolt proved he is still the fastest man on the planet by putting his injury problems behind him to claim a 100 and 200 metres sprint double at the World Championships in August.
Bolt also won 4×100 metres relay gold in Beijing and the sprint king has been rewarded with a chance of being crowned the best male athlete on the planet for a sixth time.
American Eaton won a second successive World Championships decathlon gold, setting a world record score of 9045 in the process and also clocking a record 400m time of 45.00 seconds in his discipline.
Taylor won gold in the triple jump in the Chinese capital, recording the second-longest jump in history of 18.21m and also claiming the Diamond Race title.
French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie won the prestigious award last year.
Dafne Schippers, Genzebe Dibaba and Anita Wlodarczyk were on Tuesday shortlisted for the female IAAF World Athlete of the Year award.