Jamaican middle-distance runner Aisha Praught-Leer, the 2018 Commonwealth Games 3000m champion, is among the newly elected members of World Athletics’ Athletes Commission. The took place during the ongoing 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Praught-Leer, who got 559 votes joins New Zealand’s Valerie Adams (NZL), who garnered 627 votes, Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) who polled 604 votes, Spain’s Diego Garcia Carrera, who took in 553 votes, the USA’s Jasmine Todd (USA), who had 546 votes and Great Britain’s Adam Gemili, who got 542 votes on the commission that is tasked with empowering athlete representation in Olympic Movement decision-making processes as well as supporting athlete development in their sporting and non-sporting careers.

Six additional Athletes' Commission members will be appointed by the World Athletics Council over the course of the next month to bring the number back to its intended 18. The Chair and Deputy Chair positions will be voted on by the Athletes’ Commission once the membership is finalised.

All athletes accredited for the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 had the right to vote in this year’s elections.

To be eligible for election, athletes needed to have competed in at least one of the past two editions of the World Athletics Championships, or in the most recent Olympic Games, or be a competitor at this year’s World Athletics Championships.

This year’s elections introduced a new method of voting. For the first time, voting was done electronically, on portable voting devices, rather than via paper ballots. This transition to electronic voting is in line with World Athletics’ commitment to sustainability, and was introduced to enable a more efficient polling and counting process.

Since 2019, the Chairperson and one other member of the Athletes’ Commission – one woman and one man – have been full voting members of the World Athletics Council.

Jamaica’s Aisha Praught-Leer broke Kenya Sinclair’s 18-year-old national indoor mile record to finish fourth at the 2023 Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational at Boston University on Saturday.

The 33-year-old American-born athlete, who won gold in the 3000m at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in Australia, ran a personal best 4:31.48 to finish fourth, bettering her previous best time of 4:32.86 done in Birmingham eight years ago.

Sinclair’s previous national record of 4:32.33 was set in 2005 in Gainesville.

Saturday’s race was won by Abigail Nichols in 4:29.12 ahead of Harvard’s Maia Ramsden (4:30.19) and Alli Cash (4:31.40).