European Athletics is very pleased to announce the three finalists for the men’s Rising Star trophy which will be awarded and presented to the winner at the Golden Tracks awards night in Batumi, Georgia on 25 October.
The Rising Star award was introduced in 2007 to recognise the achievements of Europe’s outstanding young athletes. Previous winners of the men’s Rising Star award have included soon-to-be Olympic champions Karsten Warholm, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Armand Duplantis and world champions Teddy Tamgho, David Storl, Niklas Kaul and Mattia Furlani.
Last year’s men’s Rising Star was Niels Laros from the Netherlands who finished sixth in the Olympic 1500m final in a European U20 record of 3:29.54.
The three finalists, listed in alphabetical order with their main achievements in 2025 summarised, are:
Bozhidar Sarâboyukov (BUL) | Profile
- European indoor long jump champion
- European U23 silver medallist
- World fifth-placer
Just 18 months after Mattia Furlani defeated Bozhidar Sarâboyukov by one centimetre for the European U20 long jump title, the tables were turned on the senior stage at the European Athletic Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn.
Saraboyukov bounded out to 8.13m in the last round to stun Furlani, prising gold away from the Italian by the same winning margin of one centimetre. He also became the first Bulgarian man to win a European indoor title since 2000 when Petar Dachev and Iliya Dzhivondov won the long jump and 400m titles respectively.
After a surprise defeat at the European Athletics U23 Championships, the 21-year-old finished his season on a high by finishing fifth in the final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Matteo Sioli (ITA) | Profile
- European U23 high jump champion
- European indoor bronze medallist
- European Athletics Team Championships 1st Division second-placer
- World eighth-placer
With Gianmarco Tamberi approaching the latter stages of his illustrious career, the future of Italian high jumping looks to be in safe hands.
Only 19, Matteo Sioli won a breakthrough bronze at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn before upgrading to gold at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Bergen where he cleared a lifetime best of 2.30m.
And Sioli also acquitted himself well on his debut at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo where he finished eighth despite being the youngest finalist in the 12-man final.
Hubert Troscianka (POL) | Profile
- European U20 decathlon champion
- World U20 decathlon record of 8514 points
A special performance looked on the cards after Poland’s Hubert Troscianka smashed the world U20 best with 46.21 in the decathlon 400m at the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere.
And Troscianka put the eight-year-old world U20 record set by Germany’s Niklas Kaul - himself a former recipient of the men’s Rising Star award in 2019 - firmly into view by throwing another lifetime best and championship best of 68.87m in the javelin.
Troscianka capped his campaign with a 4:28.59 clocking in the 1500m to take his score up to 8514 points to smash Kaul’s previous record of 8435 points which was set at the 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships in Grosseto.
Incidentally, Troscianka's time in the decathlon 400m would have won individual silver in the 400m final in Tampere 2025.
Last 10 men’s Rising Star winners
2024 - Niels Laros (NED)
2023 - Mattia Furlani (ITA)
2022 - Mykolas Alekna (LTU)
2021 - Sasha Zhoya (FRA)
2020 - not held
2019 - Niklas Kaul (GER)
2018 - Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) and Armand Duplantis (SWE)
2017 - Karsten Warholm (NOR)
2016 - Max Hess (GER)
2015 - Konrad Bukowiecki (POL)
2014 - Adam Gemili (GBR)
