Rudisha and Vlasic are World Athletes of the Year – 2010 World Athletics Gala

Monte Carlo – David Rudisha (KEN) and Blanka Vlasic (CRO) were named the Male and Female World Athletes of the Year for 2010, IAAF President Lamine Diack announced today.

Rudisha, 21, broke the World record in the 800 metres twice this season, was unbeaten in 12 contests over the distance, claimed the African title and won at the inaugural IAAF / VTB Bank Continental Cup in Split, Croatia.

Vlasic, the two-time World champion in the High Jump, added a second World indoor title to her collection this year, was unbeaten in seven Samsung Diamond League competitions, and also took the IAAF / VTB Bank Continental Cup in her hometown of Split.

"I must say that being Athlete of the Year is a tremendous performance and honour, something we all as athletes want to achieve,” said Rudisha, a former World junior champion who was nominated for the World Athlete of the Year for the first time. At 21 years, 338 days old, Rudisha is the youngest to ever be named Male Athlete of the Year.

In Berlin on 22 August, the young Kenyan clocked 1:41.09 to break the record set by Wilson Kipketer 13 years earlier. Just one week later, Rudisha broke it again, running 1:41.01 in Rieti. "After breaking two World records in one week, I was hoping to win this," Rudisha said.

Vlasic, history's second highest jumper at 2.08m, capped another strong season with a successful defence of her World indoor title before embarking on a nearly flawless season outdoors. She claimed her first European title, and won all but two of her 14 competitions outdoors.

"This is an amazing achievement, it can’t get better than this. I’m proud and I’m honoured," said Vlasic, who was also the year's co-world leader at 2.05m. "I struggled in each competition this year. So the step I made this year psychologically meant more than being able to jump a certain height. So winning this award after this season means even more." In all, Vlasic won 18 of her 20 competitions in 2010.

IAAF