All five of our top pro men won a gold medal at a global championship in 2016, and four of them won two. There's a case to be made for all of them at No. 1.

5. Ashton Eaton

Eaton won Olympic gold, broke the Olympic record, and won world indoors in 2016. In the last four years, Eaton has won two Olympic golds, two outdoor world championship golds, and three indoor world championship golds--every single one available at those three meets. (The outdoor laurels are in the decathlon, and the indoor ones are in the heptathlon.)



Eaton shares the decathlon Olympic record with 8,893 points and holds the world record at 9,045. He'll be back for what will likely be one last year in 2017.

4. Mo Farah

Mo Farah continued his dominance as the best track distance runner of the post-Bekele era. (Note: Bekele and Farah are the same age, and Bekele continues to succeed in the marathon.) His 10K and 5K wins in Rio were some of the most unchallenged of his career, giving him four Olympic gold medals to go with his five world championship golds. The only time that seemed remotely in doubt was when his sometime training partner Galen Rupp accidentally tripped him early in the 10K final.

The moment when: pic.twitter.com/PvHwkPO3SF

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) August 14, 2016

Farah turns 34 in March, and the U.S.-based Brit is heading towards unprecedented territory. His Olympic double made him the first man since Lasse Viren in 1976 to defend the Olympic 5K and 10K titles, and his nine Olympic/world golds give him one more than Bekele. The only thing Farah hasn't done is run historically fast. He's the ninth fastest 1500m runner ever and the third fastest two-miler. But in his primary events, the 10K and 5K, he ranks No. 16 and No. 31 all-time, respectively. His 26:46 10K PR is slower than Rupp's. 

He's said that 2017 will be his last year on the track. Hopefully he chases some times.

3. Matt Centrowitz

Has an American distance runner ever had a single year better than Matt Centrowitz's 2016? He won the 1500m at world indoors in Portland in front of a home crowd, and then led nearly every step of the Olympic final to become the first American man to win 1500m Olympic gold since 1908.



Neither of those races was a fluky, late-breaking cheap win for Centro. According to the official splits, he was leading at 13 of the 15 100-meter checkpoints in the Olympic final, and at 1000m and 1100m, he was sharing the lead. And at world indoors, he stalked Nick Willis around the track and perfectly timed his move. Centrowitz is the best championship miler in the world right now.

Before the Olympics, he broke a 36-year-old meet record at the Olympic Trials, where he dominated in 3:34.09.

2. Wayde van Niekerk

Van Niekerk's 43.03 may have been the single most thrilling moment of the Olympics, and he did so with unbridled aggression from the outside lane. The South African's en route 100m splits of 10.7, 20.4, and 31.0 changed the event forever. Van Niekerk is only 24, and could become the first man ever to break 43 seconds for the 400m. 

Any world record is special, obviously, but the men's outdoor 400m world record is one of the most coveted in track. Since Lee Evans became the first man ever to break 44 seconds in 1968, the world record has only been broken three more times: by Butch Reynolds in 1988, by Michael Johnson in 1998, and by van Niekerk this summer. 

Van Niekerk is coached by 74-year-old Ans Botha, and has said that he wants to pursue the 200m in 2017.

1. Usain Bolt

Bolt nearly lost his title as the world's fastest man to Justin Gatlin in 2015, and pulled out of the Jamaican trials in 2016 with what was later reported to be a torn hamstring. There was real drama coming into the Olympics, and some of us thought there was a chance Bolt could lose.

Instead, Bolt pulled off the triple-triple, winning the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m for the third straight Olympics. He didn't just defeat his opponents; he demoralized them, as perfectly demonstrated by his mid-race smile at Andre de Grasse in the semifinal.


​Photo: Rob Schumacher - USA TODAY Sports

Bolt's most significant rival, Gatlin, ran out of steam entirely after finishing 0.08 seconds behind Bolt in the 100m final. Gatlin failed to qualify for the 200m final and was part of a American 4x100m relay that was yet again disqualified in the final.