BATON ROUGE — Former LSU track and field national champion Xavier Carter has been nominated for the 2006 Performance of the Year by the International Association of Athletics Federations with the honor being announced Sunday at the World Athletics Gala in Monaco.
Carter is in the running for the award after clocking the second fastest 200-meter time in history with a scorching 19.63 performance in July in his fist 200-meter race as a professional at the Athletissima 2006 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“For Xavier to be in such an elite company and to be considered for an award like this in his first professional season is a spectacular feat for him,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “He’s already achieved so much this year as both an amateur and professional, and he put himself right there in the books in his first 200-meter race as a pro.”
Carter shattered the meet record of 19.85 set by four-time Olympic medalist Ato Boldon in 1996 with the fastest 200-meter time in the world this year, trailing only Michael Johnson’s world record of 19.32 set at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
The Melbourne, Fla., native, who is one of 11 athletes from across the globe nominated for the Male Performance of the Year, earned his second professional victory in as many tries by knocking off the likes of runner-up, Tyson Gay (19.70), World junior record holder, Usain Boldt (19.88), and World silver medalist Wallace Spearman (19.90) in Lausanne.
The centerpiece of the prestigious 2006 World Athletics Gala will be the announcement of both the Male and Female World Athletes of the Year and Performances of the Year live on stage in the Salle des Etoiles of the Sporting Club d’Ete in Monte Carlo.
The nominees have been selected by a panel of IAAF experts with the four winners being decided by a special jury of the International Athletic Foundation. This annual awards ceremony will be hosted jointly by IAF President Lamine Diack and IAF Honorary President, His Serene Highness, Prince Albert II of Monaco.
2006 IAAF Male Performance of the Year Nominees
Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) for winning his fifth consecutive short and long race double at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Xavier Carter (United States) for making a dramatic appearance on the world scene by blazing to a 19.63 win in the 200 meters in Lausanne, Switzerland ? second only to the legendary world-record holder Michael Johnson.
Francisco Javier Fernandez (Spain) for winning the 200 km at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in front of his home crowd in La Coruna, Spain.
Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) for winning the Berlin marathon in a world-leading time of 2:05.56 after breaking the 20 km and half marathon world records previously this year.
Christian Olsson (Sweden) for winning his second European title in Gothenburg, Sweden, after a 2005 season ruined by injury.
Asafa Powell (Jamaica) for the second time equaling his own 100-meter world record of 9.77 in Zurich, Switzerland, which matched the same performance in Gateshead, England, just over a month before.
Irving Saladino (Panama) for winning the long jump at the ISTAF Golden League in Berlin, Germany, to win a share of the IAAF Golden League Jackpot.
Saif Saaeed Shaheen (Qatar) for doubling the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 5,000 meters in Athens, Greece, a feat never achieved previously at an IAAF World Cup.
Andreas Thorkildsen (Norway) for throwing the javelin at 91.59 meters to become the sixth all-time best thrower.
Jeremy Wariner (United States) for running a 43.62 in the 400 meters at the Rome Golden League meeting, the best time since Michael Johnson’s world record in 1999 and the fourth best time in history.
Liu Xiang (China) for producing a stunning 12.88 in Lausanne, Switzerland, to become the outright world-record holder of the 110-meter hurdles.