Ukraine’s Bogdan Bondarenko and Czech Republic’s Zuzana Hejnova were named as the 2013 European Athletes of the Year at the European Athletics Awards Night in Tallinn, Estonia on Saturday (12).
Serbia’s Emir Bekric and Iceland’s Anita Hinriksdottir claimed the European Athletics Rising Star Awards.
All four athletes were present to collect their prizes in a glittering ceremony at the Seaplane Harbour.
High jumper Bondarenko, 24, was voted the men’s winner after a season where he won at the 2013 IAAF World Championships and the Diamond Race.
His 2.41m jumps at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, and in Moscow, were the best in the world for 19 years.
The 26-year-old Hejnova, a specialist in the 400m hurdles, won all 13 of her races during 2013, including her heat and semi-final before triumphing at the IAAF World Championships, and at all seven of her outings at the IAAF Diamond League meetings.
Bekric, 22, also a 400m hurdler, won at the European Under-23 Championships and then finished third at the IAAF World Championships in a national record of 48.05, the second-fastest European under-23 time ever.
The 17-year-old Hinriksdottir was a winner over 800m at the IAAF World Youth Championships where she set a championship record. She also won at the European Junior Championships.
The winning athletes were decided by counting votes from the fans, media, European member federations as well as an expert panel, with the results from each group of voters counting for one quarter of the athlete's final score.
Also on Saturday evening, 23 winners nominated by their national federations were recognised on the occasion of the third edition of the Women’s Leadership Awards. Two representatives of all the winners, Mirjana Stojanovic of Serbia, who was selected in a draw to be a representative, and Eva Kuningas of Estonia, were the first to receive their awards.
The first 2013 European Athletics Coaching Awards, which recognise the invaluable contributions made by coaches at all levels to the sport of athletics, were also presented to representatives of all the winners. Bo Berndtsson of Norway, selected by a draw, and Toomas Merila and Milvi Viss of Estonia were presented with their awards.
Men’s 2013 European Athlete of the Year
1 Bogdan Bondarenko (UKR)
2 Mo Farah (GBR)
3 Pawel Fajdek (POL)
Women’s 2013 European Athlete of the Year
1 Zuzana Hejnova (CZE)
2 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS)
3 Valeria Straneo (ITA)
Men's 2013 European Athletics Rising Star
1 Emir Bekric (SRB)
2 Adam Gemili (GBR)
3 Karsten Warholm (NOR)
Women's 2013 Rising Star
1 Anita Hinriksdottir (ISL)
2 Dafne Schippers (NED)
3 Amela Terzic (SRB)
European Athletics for the IAAF
