15 June 2009

Jessica Ennis (City of Sheffield) has been named the European female athlete of the month by European Athletics. Ennis picked up the award for May following her outstanding return to the heptathlon after a foot injury ruled her out of last summer’s Beijing Olympics.

The 23-year-old, who is the joint UK high jump record holder, came back with a bang in May this season winning the IAAF Combined Events Challenge in Desenzano del Garda in a new world leading score of 6587.

In a busy month her, seven days after her winning score she won the 100m hurdles at the Loughborough International and two weeks later she threw a javelin PB of 44.18m to make it a truly outstanding month.

The men’s winner was Nelson Évora, the Portugese athlete who denied Team GB’s Phillips Idowu Olympic gold in Beijing last year. 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.