In the final part of our profiles of the nominees for this year’s European athletes of the year, we end with a world record-holder and a multiple distance gold medallist among a clutch of outstanding contenders.
Voting closes on Monday 28 September, with your chance to vote through our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Click here to see the full list of nominees.
The Golden Tracks awards will be presented at a televised gala evening in Lausanne on Saturday 17 October.
Women’s Athlete of the Year
On the first day of last month, Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk wrote her way into athletics history.
The double European hammer champion became the first woman to break the 80m barrier for her event and however far the distance goes in the years to come, this achievement will always make her stand out.
Wlodarczyk achieved this result while competing at home in Cetniewo at the Kamila Skolimowska Festival throwing meeting. Her first round throw was a foul but then with her second effort, the hammer soared to an amazing 81.08m, breaking her old world record mark of 79.58m.
'I was waiting for this moment so long, this is an unbelievable feeling to be the first woman to throw over 80m,' said Wlodarczyk.
It was just the start of a brilliant month for Wlodarczyk, who then regained her crown at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing with 80.85m, a championship record, in a year where she was unbeaten.
Russia’s Mariya Kuchina celebrated double high jump gold at both of this year’s major championships.
After a superb 2014, where she had shared the world indoor title and then won silver at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich, this time Kuchina stood alone at the top of the podium.
Her success began in March at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in the brilliant 02 Arena in Prague where she triumphed with 1.97m in a jump-off as she beat Italy’s Alessia Trost.
Her success in Beijing was equally close, as she won on countback at 2.01m from Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic and Russian teammate Anna Chicherova, the Olympic champion.
But it was her perfect run, from 1.88m to 2.01m, which proved decisive, with Vlasic needing two attempts at 1.92m, as Kuchina landed gold again.
Germany’s Christina Schwanitz, the European shot put champion, became world champion for the first time this summer with victory in Beijing, having put her season on the road to success a few months earlier in the Bird’s Nest Stadium.
Competing in May in the Chinese capital, Schwanitz took her personal best from 20.22m to 20.77m and then returned in August to triumph at the world championships with 20.37m.
It was a close competition as China’s Gong Lijiao had 20.30m but was enough for the German to celebrate another fine win.
Schwanitz also triumphed at the European Athletics Team Championships in Cheboksary in June and then ended the summer by winning her first Diamond Race after success in five of the Diamond League meetings.
Men’s Athlete of the Year
Mo Farah produced another stunning double to show that he remains the untouchable force in men’s distance running on the track.
And it was a seventh straight global success for the Great Britain superstar, who is also the Olympic champion at the distances.
He won the 10,000m (27:01.13) on the opening Saturday in Beijing and the 5000m (13.50.38) a week later to make it his fourth successive double-double at a major championship.
In consecutive summers, Farah has won both events at the Olympics in London 2012, the world championships in Moscow 2013, the European Athletics Championships in Zurich last year and then now in Beijing.
And it was not all about endurance, either, as he was also Europe’s fastest 1500m runner (3:28.93) after his fourth place at the Diamond League in Moscow in July.
It was in the principality that night that Amel Tuka, of Bosnia & Herzegovina, set himself on his way to remarkable few weeks.
In a time of 1:42.51, Tuka’s 800m victory was a national record, a stunning run from an athlete who has progressed brilliantly from his bronze at the 2013 European U23 Championships in Tampere.
He obliterated his personal best of 1:46.12, a race that took him to Beijing where he confirmed his form with bronze (1:46.30), the first time his country had won a medal at the world championships.
It will give Tuka bundles of confidence for the year ahead, with both the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam and the Olympic Games in Rio.
Spain’s Miguel Angel Lopez became the 20km walk world champion in Beijing in a personal best time. The European champion won in 1:19:14, as he beat China’s Zhen Wang by an amazing 15 seconds, to take this title for his country for the first time since Valenti Massana’s success in 1993 in Stuttgart.
Lopez had set the tone for his summer when he triumphed at the European Cup Race Walking in Murcia in May (1:19:52) and lapped up every second of his glory in Beijing. He said: 'I hope the people of Spain watched me at three in the morning. They should see this unique moment of my life. This is the best moment of my life.'
Behind him in second in Murcia was Matej Toth (1:20:21) but for him that was perhaps just speed preparation for what lie ahead in China.
Once more Europe could celebrate as Toth won Slovakia’s first ever gold at the world championships with victory in the 50km walk in 3:40.32.
In March, the European silver medallist had triumphed in Dudince in 3:34.88, a stunning time which remains the best in the world in 2015 by nearly six minutes.
In Beijing, he won by more than 90 seconds from Australia’s Jared Tallent (3:42:17) - and even had time for a toilet break in the second half of the race.
He is 32 and he wants more success. 'I just hope I will get to enjoy such a special moment at least once more in my life,' he said.