Obikwelu & Gevaert named European Athletes of the Month for June

Double European sprint champions, Francis Obikwelu (POR) and Kim Gevaert (BEL), have been voted the European Athletes of the Month for June.

Obikwelu, the Olympic 100m silver medallist and European 100m record holder with 9.86, got the top award based on his sterling performances in June, where he won three out of four competitions and was only beaten into second place at the IAAF Golden League in Oslo, where he nevertheless had the consolation of running 10.06, the fastest time by a European for 2007.

The 28-year-old current European Athlete of the Year also took gold for Portugal in the 100m at the European Cup 1st League in Milan in the middle of the month and will be one of the strong favourites to tackle the Americans for the title of World’s fastest man in Osaka in August.

Gevaert, who is now without peer over the shorter distances in Europe, helped her native Belgium to victory at the European Cup 2nd League in Odense, Denmark winning both the individual sprint titles while also playing a winning part in the 4x100m relay.

The European 100m, 200m and 60m Indoor champion, ran the fastest 100m time by a European in Odense, when she won with 11.13 and looks set to lead the European challenge over the summer months in the countdown to Osaka.

The runners-up in the men’s poll were Greek Long Jumper, Louis Tsatoumas, who jumped the second furthest jump of all time by a European with 8.66m and British sprint star Craig Pickering who won the 100m at the SPAR European Cup in Munich along with the Ostrava Grand Prix.

The runners-up in the women’s poll were German Javelin star, Christina Obergfoell, who set a European record of 70.20m at the SPAR European Cup and Italian High Jump sensation, Antonietta Di Martino, who broke the 29-year-old Italian High Jump record twice in June.

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 and the media and a panel of European Athletics experts with each counting for 33.3% of the final vote. The winners will automatically be short listed for the European Athlete of the Year Award.

Source: European Athletics