The 17-year-old had become the youngest athlete to qualify to represent the United States in track and field since Jim Ryun in 1964 when he set under-18 and under-20 world records in the 200 metres with a time of 19.84 seconds at the US Olympic Trials in June.

The records the former American footballer from Florida broke had both been held by Jamaica’s eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt.

Knighton is joined on the shortlist by another American, 19-year-old Sean Burrell, who won the 400m hurdles at the National Collegiate Athlete Association at Oregon in June in a time of 47.85.

That broke the world under-20 record that had stood for 37 years since being set by Danny Harris in the year the American had finished second to the legendary Edwin Moses at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Both US runners missed the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi because America did not attend the event.

But a trio of gold medallists from those Championships complete the shortlist for the Male Rising Star Award.

France’s Sasha Zhoya, winner of the 110m hurdles at the World Athletics U20 Championships, is rewarded for an outstanding season.

The 19-year-old, born in Australia of French and Zimbabwean descent, broke the world under-20 record twice during the Championships, including in the final when he ran 12.72.

Kenya’s 17-year-old Emmanuel Wanyonyi won the 800m in a time of 1min 43.76sec, taking three-hundredths of a second off the Championship record set by Botswana’s Nijel Amos in 2012, the same year he had won the Olympic silver medal at London 2012.

The shortlist is completed by Ethiopia’s 18-year-old Tadese Worku, winner of the 3,000m and runner-up in the 5,000m in Nairobi.

The winner of the 2021 Male Rising Star Award will be selected by an international panel of experts and is due to be announced live at the World Athletics Awards on December 1.