European Athlete of the Year Trophy


The European Athlete of the Year Trophy is an annual prize awarded to sportspeople participating in athletics, including track and field, road running and cross country running competitions. The election has been organised by the European governing body for the sport of athletics, the European Athletic Association, since 1993.
Each year, a shortlist is created by selecting the top European athlete in each event, based upon performances at the year's major championships. Only in exceptional circumstances will more than one athlete be shortlisted per event. Athletes who have served a doping ban of two years or more are ineligible. Via the EAA website, fans, media and members of the EAA federations are allowed to vote for five male and five female athletes on the list, with athletes receiving one to five points based on their ranking. A panel of experts also cast their votes. The votes of each of the four groups comprises 25% of the athletes' total scores, and the male and female athletes with the highest combined points totals win.
The European Athletics Rising Star of the Year Award was inaugurated in 2007. The award, open to athletes under 23 years of age, was created as a way of acknowledging young competitors' achievements on their way to becoming senior athletes.
Waterford Crystal sponsored the event from 2002–2008 and :it:Mondo |Mondo, a manufacturer of track and field equipment and facilities, sponsored the 2009 presentation.
Mo Farah of Great Britain is the only athlete, male or female, to win the main award three times. Czech javelin legend Jan Železný, British triple jumper Jonathan Edwards and his Swedish rival Christian Olsson have won the men's award twice, while Sweden's heptathlete Carolina Klüft, the Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, Croat high jumper Blanka Vlasic and Dutch sprinter Dafne Schippers have won the women's award twice each. Two athletes have completed the double of the Rising Star award, followed by the senior award; sprinter Christophe Lemaitre of France, and Great Britain's Olympic and World champion heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill.

Winners

YearMenWomen
1993 Linford Christie Sally Gunnell
1994 Colin Jackson Irina Privalova
1995 Jonathan Edwards Sonia O'Sullivan
1996 Jan Železný Svetlana Masterkova
1997 Wilson Kipketer Astrid Kumbernuss
1998 Jonathan Edwards Christine Arron
1999 Tomáš Dvořák Gabriela Szabo
2000 Jan Železný Trine Hattestad
2001 André Bucher Stephanie Graf
2002 Dwain Chambers Süreyya Ayhan
2003 Christian Olsson Carolina Klüft
2004 Christian Olsson Kelly Holmes
2005 Virgilijus Alekna Yelena Isinbayeva
2006 Francis Obikwelu Carolina Klüft
2007 Tero Pitkämäki Blanka Vlašić
2008 Andreas Thorkildsen Yelena Isinbayeva
2009 Phillips Idowu Marta Domínguez
2010 Christophe Lemaitre Blanka Vlašić
2011 Mo Farah Mariya Savinova
2012 Mo Farah Jessica Ennis
2013 Bohdan Bondarenko Zuzana Hejnová
2014 Renaud Lavillenie Dafne Schippers
2015 Greg Rutherford Dafne Schippers
2016 Mo Farah Ruth Beitia
2017 Johannes Vetter Katerina Stefanidi
2018 Kevin Mayer Dina Asher-Smith
2019 Karsten Warholm Mariya Lasitskene

Rising Star winners

YearMenWomen
2007 Andrew Howe Jessica Ennis
2008 Raphael Holzdeppe Stephanie Twell
2009 Christophe Lemaitre Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal
2010 Teddy Tamgho Sandra Perković
2011 David Storl Jodie Williams
2012 Pavel Maslák Angelica Bengtsson
2013 Emir Bekrić Aníta Hinriksdóttir
2014 Adam Gemili Mariya Kuchina
2015 Konrad Bukowiecki Noemi Zbären
2016 Max Heß Nafissatou Thiam
2017 Karsten Warholm Yuliya Levchenko
2018 Armand Duplantis
Jakob Ingebrigtsen
Elvira Herman
2019 Niklas Kaul Yaroslava Mahuchikh