The 22-year-old is joined on the five-strong shortlist by fellow sprinter Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Belgian heptathlete Nafi Thiam, Colombian triple jumper Caterine Ibarguen and Kenyan steeplechaser Beatrice Chepkoech.
The Commonwealth champion and triple European gold medallist would be the first British athlete to lift the award since Paula Radcliffe claimed the prize in 2002 after breaking the marathon world record.
Asher-Smith became the first British woman to win three European gold medals at one championship when she romped home to win the 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles in Berlin.
That success followed on from her breakthrough at the 2016 European Championships in Amsterdam as she took 200m gold ahead of Bulgaria’s Ivet Lalova-Collio.
The Orpington-born athlete earned an Olympic bronze medal as part of the quartet that clinched bronze in the 4x100m in Rio two years ago, before running to a gold and bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Asher-Smith is the current British 100m and 200m record holder – knocking down her times at the Olympiastadion in August as she became the first British woman in history to run the 200m in under 22 seconds.
Speaking after the European’s, where she set a joint leading time in the 100m, the young British sprint queen wasn’t getting too ahead of herself with the Olympics edging ever closer.
“We’ve still got two years to go before the Olympics and everything moves in cycles. It’s hard to predict what’s going to happen next year or the year after,” she said.
“This time last year I was still recovering from a broken foot so in terms of what’s going to happen in Tokyo we’ll have to wait and see.
“Having run two new PBs in the 100m and 200m it does give you a little more confidence.
“I came in the event on cloud nine despite also being quite tired. But I’m so happy because never in my life have I been a world leader at a real point in the season. At some point in January maybe I have when nobody else has [been running].
“To think that I’m the fastest in the world right now is crazy and something that I don’t think I’m going to come down from in a hurry.”