Kiplagat and Maase create a Double Dutch result for Athlete of the Month

October was a very successful month for the Netherlands, who are now being rewarded with a historic first, October marks the first ever case of Double Dutch in the European Athlete of the Month website poll!

Lornah Kiplagat, who retained her IAAF World Road Running Championships in Udine in a new World record time and Kamiel Maase, who set a new Dutch marathon record of 2:08:21 were voted top of the pile in a poll by European Athletics fans, media and a panel of experts.

33-year-old Kiplagat completed an outstanding 2007 of achievements, adding the World Road Running Championships to the World Cross Country title she won in Mombassa, Kenya in March.

Although her summer track season was badly hindered by an injury, the Kenyan born Dutch woman showed the resilience she is renowned for to return in top form, setting two new global figures for the World Half Marathon distance of 66:25 and 20km of 62:57.

For Maase, who holds a host of Dutch records on the track and roads, October was the month when he showed his potential as a true world class performer, breaking his own record by 10 seconds which was incidentally set on the same Amsterdam course four years previously.

His performance, which is the third fastest by a European in 2007, guarantees him selection for next years Olympic Games in Beijing and he will take confidence in the fact that the World Championship bronze medallist,
Viktor Röthlin from Switzerland, has only run one second faster than him this season.

The runners up in the men’s poll were Aleksey Sokolov (RUS) and Pierre Joncheray (FRA), while Krystyna Kuta (POL) and Sabrina Mockenhaupt (GER) took the minor positions in the women’s poll.

The European Athlete of the Month initiative was launched in January 2007 and is designed to recognise outstanding performers at all levels of the sport in Europe. European Athletics will name a male and female winner each month and feature the athlete on the European Athletics website. Selections are based on votes by the public, the media and a panel of European Athletics experts with each counting for 33.3% of the final vote. The winners will automatically be short listed for the European Athlete of the Year Award. There was no award in August 2007 due to the European Athlete of the Year poll.

Oct 07
Kamiel Maase NED
Lornah Kiplagat NED

Sep 07
Marek Plawgo POL
Blanka Vlasic CRO

Aug 07

Jul 07
Virgilijus Alekna LIT
Blanka Vlasic CRO

Jun 07
rancis Obikwelu POR
Kim Gevaert BEL

May 07
Halil Akkas TUR
Tatyana Lysenko RUS

Apr 07
Viktor Roethlin SUI
Elvan Abeylegesse TUR

Mar 07
Jason Gardener GBR
Naide Gomes POR

Feb 07
David Gillick IRL
Yelena Isinbayeva RUS

Jan 07
Ivan Ukhov RUS
Susanna Kallur SWE

Source/Courtesy
European Athletics (EAA)
https://www.european-athletics.org/
EAA