05 October 2010

Three Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland athletes have been included in European Athletics’ top 15 for 2010. 

Double European champion Mo Farah (coach: Ricky Simms) and European champions Dai Greene (coach: Malcolm Arnold) and Phillips Idowu (coach: Aston Moore), were ranked third, fifth and 13th respectively.

Farah – gold medallist over 5000m and 10000m in Barcelona – has had an outstanding year domestically and on the European stage. His 27:44 victory in the Bupa London 10k in May was a UK road best and kick started his season which was soon backed up with European Cup 10,000m and Spar European Team Championships 5000m titles. His incredible European Championships double in July was followed up with a new UK 5000m record when he finally broke the 13 minute barrier (12:57.94) in the Weltklasse Zurich/Samsung Diamond League meeting, a fitting conclusion to his season.

Reigning world champion and Beijing Olympic Games silver medallist Phillips Idowu, the European Athlete of the Year Award winner in 2009, won the European Championships triple jump title in a new lifetime best of 17.81m in July, while Dai Greene, who won gold in the European Championships 400mH in a lifetime best (at the time), went on to record an impressive PB of 47.88 – his first ever sub-48s performance – when taking victory in the IAAF Continental Cup in Croatia, a mark good enough to place him second on the UK All-Time list.

Christophe Lemaître of France, the winner of the European Athletics Rising Star of the Year 12 months ago, was voted the winner of the men’s European Athlete of the Year Award, presented by MONDO.

Still just 20, the French sprint prodigy made history at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona by becoming the first man to win three gold medals (100m, 200m and 4x100m relay) at a single Championships and in doing so clocked new national records of 9.97 and 20.16.

Fans, media and European Athletics Member Federations were invited to vote for the European Athlete of the Year on the European Athletics website. Along with the votes from a panel of experts, each group of voters’ results count for one quarter of the athlete’s final score.

The shortlist for the award was compiled by selecting the top European athlete in each event, based largely 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 were two athletes from one event nominated.

Men’s European Athlete of the Year presented by MONDO final rankings:

1. Christophe Lemaitre (FRA)
2. Andreas Thorkildsen (NOR)
3. Mo Farah (GBR)
4. Teddy Tamgho (FRA)
5. David Greene (GBR)
6. Christian Reif (GER)
7. Aleksandr Shustov (RUS)
8. Piotr Malachowski (POL)
9. Marcin Lewandowski (POL)
10. Renaud Lavillenie (FRA)
11. Romain Barras (FRA)
12. Viktor Roethlin (SUI)
13. Phillips Idowu (GBR)
14. Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad (FRA)
15. Yohann Diniz (FRA)