After a fantastic year of track and field, here are FloTrack's top five American female athletes of 2017

5. Ajee’ Wilson

Wilson's American record in the 800m was one of the surprises of the year. Perhaps more impressive, though, was her ability to break into the triumvirate of Caster Semenya, Francine Niyonsaba, and Margaret Wambui that had a vice grip over the event.

Wilson’s American record came in Monaco, where she ran 1:55.61 to finish a close third to Semenya and Niyonsaba and take almost a second off Jearl Miles-Clark’s record run from 1999. 

What an 800! Semenya wins; U.S. record 1:55.61 for Ajee Wilson @AjeeW pic.twitter.com/AgYFTYsQdd

— Joe Fleming (@ByJoeFleming) July 21, 2017

At the World Championships, she finished behind Semenya and Niyonsaba again, but not before being shoulder-to-shoulder with Niyonsaba with 100 meters remaining. Semenya steamed past both women, but Wilson was able to hold for bronze in an event that looked — at best — like an outside shot for a U.S. medal at the beginning of the year. 

In total, she broke two minutes on seven occasions including a negative split 1:57.78 to win the U.S. Championships.  

4. Tori Bowie

Bowie set a Diamond League record in the 200m and qualified for the World Championships in the 100m and 200m, but we will always remember her 2017 season for that lean in London to take gold in the World Championships 100m.

It doesn't get closer than that.. Tori Bowie with the lean. #100mFinal #USA pic.twitter.com/T5yJw6ynK7

— Maximiliano Bretos (@mbretosESPN) August 6, 2017

The lean is worthy a spot on the countdown itself — a perfectly timed dip to the finish that put her .01 seconds in front of Marie Joseé Ta Lou. Outside of that race, Bowie won the Prefontaine Classic 200m (in the aforementioned fastest time in the world), won the U.S. championships in the 100m and anchored the U.S. 4x100m relay team to a gold medal at the end of the World Championships. 

3. Shalane Flanagan

The challenge of creating a list of the best track and field athletes of the year is that you're tasked with comparing dissimilar feats. How do you compare a pole vaulter and a sprinter? A heptathlete and a marathoner? 

Any apples to apples comparison gets difficult when you attempt to control for opportunities to compete and quality of competition. Flanagan’s primary event, the marathon, is measured by World Marathon Majors. Marathoners don’t get to race often, but they do get at least two chances a year to go after a big one. After looking at the quality of the field in New York City it isn’t a stretch to say her victory there was equivalent to winning a gold medal on the track, and that’s before you factor in the historical import of becoming the first American to win the race in 40 years. 

2. Emma Coburn

Like Flanagan, Coburn came up big at the perfect moment. She led a stunning one-two finish for the United States at the World Championships in the 3000m steeplechase. Her time of 9:02.58 was an American record and shifted her status in the event from dominant America to world champion. 

Coburn’s victory in London came at a high point for the event. To win gold, she had to beat the first-, second-, fourth-, and fifth-best performers all-time in the event. 

The world title punctuated a season in which she ran under 9:12 three times and won her sixth U.S. title. 

1. Brittney Reese 

Reese has been inexplicably overlooked throughout her career. Her 2017 was par for the course — big jumps, gold medals, more big jumps. In short, it was a season that would make almost any athlete's career. 

Reese had some losses in 2017, but she finished the season with the top three jumps of year. At the World Championships she was clutch once again, winning the eighth global championship of her career.  

One giant leap and the ? for @usatf's @DaLJBeast in the long jump.

It's her fourth #IAAFworlds outdoor title! pic.twitter.com/zJMJSk7x4y

— IAAF (@iaaforg) August 11, 2017