13 April 2010

World Indoor champion Jessica Ennis has been voted European Athlete of the Month for March, alongside French Triple Jump star Teddy Tamgho, the men’s winner.

Ennis added an indoor gold to her world outdoor multi-events title in Berlin last August with a total of 4937 points to claim top prize in the women’s Pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships.

Making her championship debut, she clocked 8.04sec in the 60m hurdles, jumped a best of 1.90m in the High Jump, threw 14.01m in the Shot Put, jumped a best of 6.44m in the Long Jump, and ran 2:12.55 in the 800m, breaking the championship record held by Sweden’s Carolina Kluft by three points.

In a closely contested poll, she edged Slovenian Javelin thrower Martina Ratej and Portuguese long jumper Naide Gomes, who finished second and third respectively.

Tamgho was the shock sensation at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, last month when he set a new world indoor record 17.90m on his final attempt to take the Triple Jump gold.

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 names a male and female winner each month and features 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.