With just under a week to go to the Golden Tracks awards night in Batumi, Georgia on 25 October, we continue our profiles of the three finalists for the women’s European Athlete of the Year trophy.
Today we put the spotlight on Ditaji Kambundji, the Swiss express who has won two major titles and broken one European record in 2025.
No Swiss athlete has ever been crowned women’s European Athlete of the Year since the award was inaugurated back in 1993. Can Kambundji make history in Batumi and become the first Swiss winner of this prestigious accolade?
2025 highlights
- World 100m hurdles champion
- European indoor 60m hurdles champion
- World indoor 60m hurdles silver medallist
- European Athletics Team Championship 100m hurdles winner
- European indoor 60m hurdles record with 7.67
Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji has saved her very finest performances for the biggest stages of all in 2025.
Kambundji won a hotly contested 60m hurdles final at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn where she sped to a European record of 7.67, just 0.02 shy of the world record.
And Kambundji repeated on the global stage at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, winning arguably the most competitive track event on the programme in a scorching 12.24 to come within 0.03 of Yordanka Donkova’s European record of 12.21 which stood as a world record between 1988 and 2016.
Among the names Kambundji took down in a star-studded final in Tokyo were Tobi Amusan and Olympic champion Masai Russell - the fastest and second fastest sprint hurdlers in history - as well as reigning two-time world champion Danielle Williams from Jamaica.
Another notable victory came at the European Athletics Team Championships in Madrid where Kambundji delivered maximum points for Switzerland in the 100m hurdles, outleaning Nadine Visser for the victory. Both athletes shared an identical time of 12.39.
What they said
On winning gold in Tokyo…
“I was calm and pretty collected. I knew I had it in me. You could see on my face how happy I was when I realised I won. I was surprised. I thought that I was able to do it, but I was surprised because I knew all my competitors were able to win. This is something I have been working for and to run it the way I wanted to is special. Getting a personal best is nice but all that mattered today was the title.”
On her relationship with Tokyo and older sister Mujinga…
"Memories from Tokyo will always be amazing for my family. In 2021 (at the Olympics) my sister Mujinga was in three finals. We definitely have a good relationship with this track. I am sure my sister is excited for me. It's exciting to have her support. I was thinking about her a lot these days. Our bond is really special. I know she will be thrilled. I am bringing home something really incredible."
Did you know?
Kambundji made her Olympic debut on the same track in Tokyo in 2021 as a teenager at the age of 19.
One month after winning the European U20 title in Tallinn, Kambundji wore the Swiss vest at the postponed 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo where she was the youngest entrant in the 100m hurdles.
Last 10 women's European Athlete of the Year winners
2024 - Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR)
2023 - Femke Bol (NED)
2022 - Femke Bol (NED)
2021 - Sifan Hassan (NED)
2020 - not held
2019 - Mariya Lasitskene (ANA/RUS)
2018 - Dina Asher-Smith (GBR)
2017 - Katerina Stefanidi (GRE)
2016 - Ruth Beitia (ESP)
2015 - Dafne Schippers (NED)
2014 - Dafne Schippers (NED)