Valerie Adams, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Zuzana Hejnova have been named as the women's finalists in contention to become the 2013 World Athlete of the Year, the world track and field governing body announced on Tuesday.

The finalists were selected after a month-long poll of the World Athletics Family, and the Council of the International Athletics Foundation will select the male and female winners during the 2013 World Athletics Gala in Monaco on Saturday 16 November 2013, it said in a statement.

Adams, a shot putter from New Zealand, became the first woman in history to secure four successive world outdoor titles, achieving the feat with a 20.88m effort in the Moscow world championships in August.

The 28-year-old also extended her unbeaten run to 42 meets dating back to August 2010, the longest winning streak of any current international athlete. She is also the most successful athlete in the Diamond League, amassing 17 individual victories over the last four years.

Jamaican Fraser-Pryce, who won two consecutive 100m events at the Olympics last year, became the first female sprinter to win gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m in Moscow.

She is ranked fourth on the list of the fastest 100m female sprinters of all time, with a personal best of 10.70 seconds, set in Kingston, Jamaica in 2012.

Hejnova of the Czech Republic claimed five Diamond League victories this year over 400m hurdles and also won the title in Moscow worlds.

The men's finalists, Usain Bolt, Bohdan Bondarenko and Mohamed Farah, were announced on Monday.