European Athletics is very pleased to announce the three finalists for the men’s European Athlete of the Year trophy which will be awarded and presented to the winner at the Golden Tracks awards night in Batumi, Georgia on 25 October.
The European Athlete of the Year award was first handed out in 1993 when Brits Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell were the inaugural recipients of the trophy. Subsequent men’s European Athlete of the Year winners have included world record-holders Jonathan Edwards, Jan Zelezny, Kevin Mayer, Karsten Warholm, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Armand Duplantis.
Duplantis was crowned European Athlete of the Year for the second time in 2024 having won it jointly with Jakob Ingebrigtsen in 2022. Duplantis is also a former recipient of the Rising Star award, winning the accolade back in 2018.
The three finalists, listed in alphabetical order with their main achievements in 2025 summarised, are:
Armand Duplantis (SWE) | Profile
- World pole vault champion
- World indoor champion
- Diamond League champion
- World records at 6.27m, 6.28m, 6.29m and 6.30m
Armand Duplantis has amassed yet another faultless season, extending his winning streak in the pole vault to 37 competitions and breaking his world record on four occasions in 2025.
The crowning moment of his season came at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo where Duplantis won his third successive world title, clearing 6.30m on his third attempt to break the world record for the 14th time in his record-breaking career.
Among his numerous other accolades in 2025, Duplantis won his third world indoor title in Nanjing before achieving a career-first in the Stockholm Diamond League in June, breaking his first world record on home soil with a 6.28m clearance.
A winner of the men’s European Athlete of the Year trophy in 2022 and 2024, can Duplantis become just the second athlete to win this award on three occasions after Mo Farah between 2011 and 2016.
Mattia Furlani (ITA) | Profile
- World long jump champion
- World indoor champion
- European indoor silver medallist
At 20, Italy’s Mattia Furlani replaced Carl Lewis as the youngest ever men’s long jump champion in World Athletics Championships history in Tokyo.
Furlani produced a timely lifetime best of 8.39m in the fifth round to propel him to the title in Tokyo, Italy’s first gold medal in the event in the history of the championships.
Furlani, who was crowned men’s Rising Star in 2023, also won the world indoor title in Nanjing by one centimetre just a fortnight after he was beaten to the European indoor title in Apeldoorn in the sixth round by Bozhidar Saraboyukov, also by one centimetre.
Jimmy Gressier (FRA) | Profile
- World 10,000m champion
- World 5000m bronze medallist
- European half marathon champion
- Diamond League 3000m champion
- European records at 5000m indoors (12:54.92) and 5km (12:57)
Jimmy Gressier was arguably most widely known for his celebration-gone-wrong at the 2018 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Tilburg but the Frenchman made the headlines for his running at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
In a slow and tactical race determined by the brutal heat and humidity, Gressier weaved his way through a pack of runners to win a surprise but popular gold medal in the 10,000m before adding 5000m bronze to his list of achievements on the last day of the championships.
And the 28-year-old further demonstrated his range and versatility across all distances and surfaces. Gressier won the half marathon title at the European Running Championships in Brussels-Leuven in a gun-to-tape 59:45 before dropping down to win the 3000m in the Diamond League final in Zurich.
Three Frenchman have won the men’s European Athlete of the Year trophy: Christophe Lemaitre in 2010, Renaud Lavillenie in 2014 and Kevin Mayer in 2018.
Last 10 men’s European Athlete of the Year winners
2024 - Armand Duplantis (SWE)
2023 - Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR)
2022 - Armand Duplantis (SWE) and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR)
2021 - Karsten Warholm (NOR)
2020 – not held
2019 - Karsten Warholm (NOR)
2018 - Kevin Mayer (FRA)
2017 - Johannes Vetter (GER)
2016 - Mo Farah (GBR)
2015 - Greg Rutherford (GBR)
2014 - Renaud Lavillenie (FRA)