Voting now open for USATF's 2017 Jesse Owens, Jackie Joyner-Kersee Awards

INDIANAPOLIS -- Voting is now open for fans to help USATF select 2017's best U.S. athletes with the Jesse Owens Award and Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award. USATF will present both awards at the 2017 Jesse Owens Awards Banquet Saturday, December 2, at its Annual Meeting in Columbus, Ohio.

Fans can vote for their favorites via an online form, also found on Instagram and Facebook, now thru Monday, November 13 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

The Jesse Owens Award and Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award are USATF's highest accolades, presented annually since 1981 to the most outstanding U.S. male and female athletes. Winners are selected by a vote of the media in combination with online fan balloting, with media votes weighing 90 percent of the vote and fan voting 10 percent. Click here for a list of previous winners.

See below for details on each of the Jesse Owens and Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award nominees. Tickets and Annual Meeting registration may be purchased online.

2017 Jesse Owens Award nominees

Christian Coleman

• World Championships 100m silver medal
• World Championships 4x100m silver medal (anchor)
• Won four NCAA titles: indoors at 60m (6.45 world leader) and 200m (20.11 WL), outdoors in 100m and 200m
• Posted eight sub-10 second times in 100m, including 9.82 WL. Ran then-WL 19.85 in 200m at NCAA East first round
• Runner-up in 100m and 200m at USATF Outdoors

Justin Gatlin

• World Championships 100m gold medal, dethroning six-time World and Olympic champion Usain Bolt
• World Championships 4x100m silver medal
• USATF 100m champion
• Four wind-legal, sub-10 times in 100m

Sam Kendricks

• Undefeated, perfect season in 2017 in the pole vault, with 17 wins in 17 competitions
• World Championships gold medal, with final-attempt clearance at 5.95m/19-6.25
• World-leading vault of 6.00m/19-8.25 at USATF Outdoor Championships
• USATF Indoor champion
• Overall Diamond League pole vault champion
• Major international wins at Shanghai, Lausanne, Zurich, Berlin, Paris and Eugene

Galen Rupp

• First American man to win Chicago Marathon since 2002, running 2:09.20
• Runner-up at Boston Marathon in 2:09:58
• USATF 20K champion on roads
• Philly Half Marathon champion 

Christian Taylor

• Won third consecutive World Championships gold medal in triple jump (17.68m/58-0.25)
• World-leading 18.11m/59-5 at Eugene; second-best jump in U.S. history
• Diamond League champion in triple jump
• Major international wins in Brussels, Paris, Doha and Eugene

2017 Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award nominees

Tori Bowie

• World Championships gold medal, 100m (10.85)
• World Championships gold medal, 4x100m anchor leg (41.82 WL)
• 2017 world-leading time in 200m (21.77 at Pre Classic)
• Four sub-11-second times in 100m

Kori Carter

• World Championships gold medal, 400m hurdles (53.07), nearly a half-second ahead of second place
• 3rd at USATF Outdoors (52.95 PR)
• Major international win at Monaco

Emma Coburn

• World Championships gold, 3000m steeplechase (9:02.58), over what was considered the best women's field in history
• World Championships meet record (9:02.58)
• American record (9:02.58)
• First American of either gender to win World Championships gold in steeplechase
• First American to win a global gold medal since Hall of Famer Horace Ashenfelter's 1952 Olympic gold
• USATF champion

Shalane Flanagan

• First American woman in 40 years to win TCS New York City Marathon (2:26:53), defeating three-time defending champion Mary Keitany of Kenya
• Margin of victory was 61 seconds
• Fourth in 10,000m at USATF Outdoors after recovering from a fracture in her back

Phyllis Francis

• World Championships gold (49.92 PR), defeating defending Olympic gold and silver medalists
• World Championships 4x400m gold, anchor (3:19.02 WL)
• USATF Outdoor Championships runner-up
• USATF Indoor Championships 300m champion

Brittney Reese

• World Championships gold medal in long jump, winning her fourth World Outdoor title (7.02m/23-0.5)
• The win was her eighth global gold medal, including World Outdoor, World Indoor and Olympic Games victories
• 2017 world leader (7.13m/23-4.75) at Chula Vista
• Posted better than 7.0-meter jumps at London, Chula Vista and Eugene (7.01m/23-0), owning the top 3 jumps in the world in 2017
• USATF Outdoor Championships runner-up

Fans can vote for their favorites via an online form, also found on Instagram and Facebook, now thru Monday, November 13 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Join the conversation with USATF on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.