European Athletics is delighted to announce the men's and women's nominations for the 2010 European Athlete of the Year presented by MONDO.

The online poll to choose the winners is now open, with voting taking place on the European Athletics website until 27 September 2010.

The list was compiled by selecting the top European athlete in each event, based on performances at the European Athletics Championships, World Indoor Championships, European Athletics events and the series of Diamond League and European Athletics meetings. Only in very exceptional cases are two athletes from one event nominated.

The winners of the European Athlete of the Year will be decided by votes from the general public, media, European Athletics Member Federations and an expert panel, with the results from each group of voters counting for one quarter of the athlete's final score. Each voter must select their five preferred athletes and rank them in order of priority.

Members of the public who have voted for the top three male and female athletes in the correct order in the poll will be automatically entered into a draw to win a three-night trip for two to the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris. There will also be some runners-up prizes.

Speaking about the award, European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz said: "The year 2010 was another exciting one for athletics in Europe, highlighted by the spectacular European Athletics Championships in Barcelona.

“Europe once again demonstrated that it is the dominant force in world athletics by winning the IAAF Continental Cup in Split, but of course there is still room for improvement.

"To be nominated for the best athlete in Europe is a huge honour and one that is greatly valued by the athletes. However, I must stress that European Athletics has always held a very strong line against doping and any athlete who has previously served a two-year doping ban has been omitted from the list of nominations."

Triple jumper Teddy Tamgho of France and discus star Sandra Perkovic of Croatia are nominated in both the Athlete of the Year and Rising Star categories because of their high achievements in what has been their breakthrough year.

The winners of European Athlete of the Year presented by MONDO will be invited to collect their awards during the European Athletics Convention in Belgrade, Serbia, on Saturday 16 October.

The European Athlete of the Year award was introduced by European Athletics in 1993 and this year is the 18th time the trophy will be awarded.

European Athlete of the Year previous winners (1993-2009):

Women	Men
1993 Sally Gunnell GBR	1993 Linford Christie GBR
1994 Irina Privalova RUS	1994 Colin Jackson GBR
1995 Sonia O’Sullivan IRL	1995 Jonathan Edwards GBR
1996 Svetlana Masterkova RUS	1996 Jan Zelezny CZE
1997 Astrid Kumbernuss GER	1997 Wilson Kipketer DEN
1998 Christine Arron FRA	1998 Jonathan Edwards GBR
1999 Gabriela Szabo ROU	1999 Tomás Dvorak CZE
2000 Trine Hattestad NOR	2000 Jan Zelezny CZE
2001 Stephanie Graf AUT	2001 André Bucher SUI
2002 Süreyya Ayhan TUR	2002 Dwain Chambers GBR
2003 Carolina Klüft SWE	2003 Christian Olsson SWE
2004 Kelly Holmes GBR	2004 Christian Olsson SWE
2005 Yelena Isinbayeva RUS	2005 Virgilijus Alekna LTU
2006 Carolina Klüft SWE	2006 Francis Obikwelu POR
2007 Blanka Vlasic CRO	2007 Tero Pitkämäki FIN
2008 Yelena Isinbayeva RUS	2008 Andreas Thorkildsen NOR
2009 Marta Dominguez ESP	2009 Phillips Idowu GBR

---

Go to the Media Voting Form

---

Go to the Member Federation Voting Form

---

Nominations:

2010 EUROPEAN ATHLETE OF THE YEAR – MALE

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Christophe Lemaitre FRA (100m & 200m) The French sprinter came of age in 2010 and completed a historic triple, winning the gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4X100m at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona. Set French national records, clocking 9.97 and 20.16 in the 100m and 200m. He finished the season by winning the 100m at the IAAF Continental Cup in Split.
Marcin Lewandowski POL (800m) The Polish prodigy was clearly the most consistent European 800m runner of the year. Besides winning the gold medal in Barcelona, he had a number of podium finishes in the Diamond League and European Athletics meetings.
David Greene GBR (400m hurdles) Riding on a highly successful season the Briton bagged the gold medal in Barcelona with an emphatic win in a European-leading and a personal best time of 48.12. He further improved his personal best to 47.88 during his win at the Continental Cup in Split.
Mo Farah GBR (5000 & 10000m) The Briton produced a stunning double, winning gold in the 5000m and 10000m in Barcelona. Farah won the European Cup 10000m race in Marseille with a personal best of 27:28.86 and followed it up with an equally emphatic win in the 5000m in Bergen at the SPAR European Team Championships. He also set a British 5000m record of 12:57.94 at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich.
Andreas Thorkildsen NOR (javelin) The javelin superstar was in sublime form throughout the season. Besides successfully defending his European title with an imperious throw of 88.37m in Barcelona, the Norwegian also won the inaugural Diamond Race and guided Team Europe to victory at the Continental Cup.
Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad FRA (3000m steeplechase) The French steeple star bagged the gold medal in Barcelona with a championships record of 8:07:87. He ran the second fastest European time ever 8:02.52 at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels.
Christian Reif GER (long jump) The German produced a stunning leap of 8.47m, a world season lead, championships record and personal best mark, to bag the gold medal in Barcelona.
Phillips Idowu GBR (triple jump) The 2009 European Athlete of the Year delivers when it matters most; once again he was in his element in winning gold in Barcelona with a personal best of 17.81m.
Piotr Malachowski POL (discus) The Pole produced a championships record throw of 68.87 to take the discus gold in Barcelona. He also set a national-record 69.83 at the Diamond League meeting in Gateshead.
Renaud Lavillenie FRA (pole vault) The Frenchman has been the man to beat this season. He landed the European title in Barcelona, pocketed the top prize at the SPAR European Team Championships in Bergen and also claimed the Diamond Race.
Libor Charfreitag SVK (hammer) Claimed the gold medal in Barcelona with a commanding 80.02m throw and went on to win the hammer at the Continental Cup in Split.
Teddy Tamgho FRA (triple jump) The French prodigy leapt out to a French national record of 17.98 metres at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in New York and in the process became the third best performer ever, behind only Great Britain's Jonathan Edwards and Kenny Harrison of the USA. A brilliant world record leap of 17.90m also gave the 20-year old Frenchman a gold medal at the world indoors in Doha.
Aleksandr Shustov RUS (high jump) Won the European gold in Barcelona after a tight contest with compatriot Ivan Ukhov and also claimed the top prize at the SPAR European Team Championships in Bergen.
Yohann Diniz FRA (50km walk) The defending champion produced a brilliant performance to retain his title, leading from the very first stride to win gold in 3:40:37.
Viktor Röthlin SUI (marathon) The Swiss veteran claimed the sweetest of marathon successes in Barcelona with an emphatic front running display, improving upon his silver medal finish of four years ago in Göteborg, to win in a time of 2:15:31.
Romain Barras FRA (decathlon) The Frenchman launched a remarkable rearguard action to win the gold medal in Barcelona, after trailing on Day 1, accumulating a European season leading 8435 points. He also won the individual title at the European Cup Combined Events Super League in Tallinn with 8313 points.
Alemayehu Bezabeh ESP (cross country) The Spaniard created an upset to win the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Dublin ahead of eight-time champion Serhiy Lebid and pre-race favourite Mo Farah of Great Britain. He also won the senior men's race at the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in Bilbao in style.

2010 EUROPEAN ATHLETE OF THE YEAR – FEMALE

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Verena Sailer (GER) 100m The German sprinter bagged the biggest prize of her career, snatching the 100m gold in Barcelona in a personal best time of 11.10.
Myriam Soumaré FRA (200m) After grabbing a shock bronze medal in the 100m, the French woman stunned all by winning the 200m final in Barcelona in 22.32, a time almost seven-tenths quicker than she has ever run before.
Tatyana Firova RUS (400m) The Russian produced a personal best of 49.89 to win the gold in Barcelona. She was a part of an equally impressive Russian win in the 4X400m relay. She also won a silver at the world indoors in Doha with a personal best time of 51.13 and finished third at the Continental cup in Split.
Mariya Savinova RUS (800m) The Russian added the European outdoor title to her world indoor crown with a devastating run of 1:58.22 in Barcelona. She also ran a European leading and personal best of 1:57.56 at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene.
Nuria Fernández ESP (1500m) The Spaniard sent the home fans into ecstasy to strike gold courtesy of a Fermin Cacho-esque kick for glory on the final day of the championships, clocking a personal best 4:00:20.
Alemitu Bekele TUR (5000m) Captured the European 5000m title in commanding fashion, setting a championships record of 14:52.20.
Yuliya Zarudneva RUS (3000m steeplechase) Produced a remarkable display of front running to win the gold medal ahead of world champion and home favourite Marta Dominguez in a championships record time of 9:17.57. She set another championship record winning the IAAF Continental Cup in Split.
Nevin Yanit TUR (100m hurdles) Produced a remarkably smooth run in the finals to take the gold medal in Barcelona with a national record of 12.63.
Natalya Antyukh RUS (400m hurdles) A year after returning to hurdles, the Russian now owns the title of European champion after clocking a championships record and a national record of 52.92 in Barcelona. She also pocketed the top prize at the SPAR European Team Championships in Bergen in June.
Blanka Vlasic CRO (high jump) There was no stopping the Croatian high jump queen this year. She lived up to her reputation by winning everything in sight, from the world indoor title to European gold and the Diamond League race. She crowned a brilliant year by equaling the world season lead of 2.05m in her hometown of Split at the Continental Cup.
Ineta Radevica LAT (long jump) The Latvian produced the biggest leap of her life to bag the biggest title of her career in Barcelona and a national record 6.92m to boot.
Nadzeya Ostapchuk BLR (shot put) The Belarus star was simply unstoppable this year. She maintained a clean slate throughout the indoor and outdoor season, winning the world indoor title, European gold medal, the Diamond Race besides a string of victories at European Athletics and IAAF meetings. Her only defeat of the year came at the IAAF Continental Cup in Split.
Svetlana Feofanova RUS (pole vault) The veteran made a superb comeback this year, winning the European title in Barcelona and the Continental Cup in Split.
Sandra Perkovic CRO (discus) The Croatian prodigy translated her promise to performance at the highest level by winning the European gold in Barcelona.
Jessica Ennis GBR (heptathlon) The Briton's imperious run of form continued in Barcelona and she bagged the heptathlon gold medal, mustering a career best and world leading 6823 points. Won the pentathlon gold in Doha with a personal best and championships record of 4937 points.
Olga Kaniskina RUS (20km walk) Completed the coveted hat-trick of major titles that any athlete aspires to – the Olympic, world and now continental titles, taking gold in Barcelona with a season best of 1:27:44.
Anita Wlodarczyk POL (hammer) Although the Pole had her fair share of struggles this year she still managed to set a new hammer world record of 78.30m at the ENEA Cup in Bydgoszcz, Poland, improving on her own previous record of 77.96m set in Berlin last year.
Hayley Yelling GBR (cross country) The 36-year-old scripted a fairytale comeback after a year-long hiatus to clinch her second women’s senior title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Dublin in a time of 27.49.
Liliya Shobukhova RUS (marathon) The Russian confirmed her status as one of the best marathon runners in the world by winning the 2010 London Marathon in a world leading time of 2:22:00.

Please enter your contact details below (optional):

Name / First name
Address
Post code
City
Country	Select!AfghanistanAlbaniaAlgeriaAmerican SamoaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntigua & BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBhutanBoliviaBosnia HerzegovinaBotswanaBrazilBruneiBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape Verde IslandsCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaColombiaComorosCongoCongo [Zaire]Cook IslandsCosta RicaCote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)CroatiaCubaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEast TimorEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFijiFinlandFranceGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGibraltarGreat Britain & NIGreeceGrenadaGuamGuatemalaGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIranIraqIrelandIsraelItalyJamaicaJapanJordanKazakhstanKenyaKirgizstanKiribatiKoreaKuwaitLaosLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacaoMacedoniaMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMarshall IslandsMauritaniaMauritiusMexicoMicronesiaMoldovaMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmar [Burma]NamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNetherlands AntillesNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNorfolk IslandsNorth KoreaNorwayOmanPakistanPalauPalestinePanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPolandPortugalPuerto RicoQatarRomaniaRussiaRwandaSan MarinoSão Tome & PrincipéSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSpainSri LankaSt. Kitts & NevisSt. LuciaSt. Vincent & the GrenadinesSudanSurinamSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyriaTadjikistanTahitiTaiwanTanzaniaThailandTogoTongaTrinidad & TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTurks & Caicos IslandsUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited StatesUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuelaVietnamVirgin IslandsWestern SamoaYemenZambiaZimbabwe
Mobile Phone
E-Mail
Male       Female
Age	Under 16   16-20   20-30   30-40   40-50   50-60   Over 60
If you wish to receive European Athletics news please tick this box