European Athletics – News – All eyes on IAAF World Athletics Gala

All eyes will be on the Principality of Monaco this week, home to the headquarters of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

The 2013 male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced during the World Athletics Gala on 16 November.

Both European Athletes of the Year, high jumper Bohdan Bondarenko and 400m hurdler Zuzana Hejnova, are among the finalists for the awards.

Great Britain’s Mo Farah is also in the running for the men’s prize having completed a historical double-double in the 5000m and 10,000m at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow and 2012 London Olympic Games.

He is only the second athlete in history to achieve this after Kenenisa Bekele.

Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are favoured to take the awards, but only by the smallest of margins, with this year’s verdicts potentially going a number of ways.

Indeed, Hejnova went unbeaten in all 13 races she took part in this year, while Bondarenko soared to heights that had not been reached since 1994.  

The 2013 Rising Star will also be named at the Gala.

During this week, the IAAF Council will also decide which city will host the 2016 World Indoor Championships, with the choice  between Birmingham (UK) and Portland (USA).

The Birmingham National Indoor Arena successfully hosted the European Athletics Indoor Championships back in 2007.

European Athletics – News