The “European Athletics Golden Tracks” is the award given annually to the men’s and women’s European Athletes of the Year and Rising Stars.
The Golden Tracks trophy will be awarded to the men’s and women’s European Athletes of the Year at a televised gala evening in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Saturday 17 October. Smaller versions of the trophy will be presented to the men's and women's Rising Stars.
Our panel of experts have selected 10 men and women to be the nominees in both award categories.
Fan voting is already underway through our Facebook and Twitter pages, so please do not miss the chance to support your favourite athletes!
The voting will close on Monday 28 September at noon CET.
For the men's and women's European athletes of the year, the most important criteria were honours won at the IAAF World Championships, European Athletics Indoor Championships, or European Athletics Team Championships.
Nominees for the Rising Stars cover various age groups and include athletes from the continent that not only won gold medals at the European Athletics U23 Championships, European Athletics Junior Championships and IAAF World Youth Championships, but also those prodigious athletes who performed well on the senior stage this summer in Beijing.
The winning athletes will be decided by counting votes from the fans, media, European Athletics Member Federations as well as an expert European Athletics panel, with the results from each group of voters counting for one quarter of the athlete's final score.
No athlete who has previously served a two-year doping ban can be nominated for the Golden Tracks.
Nominees for Men's Athlete of the Year 2015:
Amel Tuka (BIH) ran a world-leading 800m in 1:42.51, a national record, at the IAAF Diamond League in Monaco and then went on to get his country’s first ever IAAF World Championships medal when he finished third in Beijing.
Mo Farah (GBR) acquired his fourth consecutive 5000m and 10,000m double at a major championships when he took both distance running gold medals in Beijing. He also has the fastest 1500m by a European in 2015, and the world’s fastest 3000m, to his name.
Greg Rutherford (GBR) added to his impressive list of major championship gold medals when he won the world title in Beijing with 8.41m, the best jump by a European this year. He also won the 2015 Diamond Race in his event.
Jimmy Vicaut (FRA) equaled the European 100m record of 9.86 at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris and he was also the only European to contest the IAAF World Championships 100m final.
Miguel Angel Lopez (ESP) won the 20km race walk at the IAAF World Championships in the outstanding time of 1:19:14, and also won over the same distance at the European Cup Race Walking in May.
Pawel Fajdek (POL) defended his IAAF World Championships hammer title by over two metres with 80.88m and also threw 83.93m on home soil in Szczecin earlier in August, the best throw in the world for more than seven years.
Piotr Malachowski (POL) the most consistent discus thrower in the world this year, he not only won the world title in Beijing with 67.40m but also took the Diamond Race, and had the best throw in the world this year with 68.29m.
Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) the world record holder may have once again been thwarted in his quest for a world title but with he had seven competitions over 6.00m or better, including a 2015 world-leading 6.05m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene.
Sergey Shubenkov (RUS) the two-time European champion won the 110m hurdles world title in a national record of 12.98, the fastest time by a European this year. He also won at the European Team Championships, helping Russia regain the title.
Matej Toth (SVK) took the 50km race walk title at the IAAF World Championships, winning by almost two minutes in 3:40:32, and he was also almost six minutes faster than anyone else in the world this year with his 3:34.38 on home soil in Dudince in March.
Nominees for Women's Athlete of the Year 2015:
Anita Wlodarcyzk (POL) was unbeaten during the year and threw a championship record of 80.85m to regain the hammer world title at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, as well as throwing a world record of 81.08m earlier in August.
Christina Schwanitz (GER) won the world title in Beijing to add to her continental crown in 2014, she also had five wins in the IAAF Diamond League, won at the European Team Championships and had the longest throw of the year with 20.77m.
Dafne Schippers (NED) won the 200m world title in a stunning championship record of 21.63, the fastest time in the world for 17 years, and also won the 100m silver medal in Beijing in 10.81, the fastest time by a European this year.
Jessica Ennis-Hill (GBR) made an outstanding comeback following injury and pregnancy, the London 2012 Olympic Games gold medallist regained the heptathlon world title she had previously won in 2009.
Katharina Molitor (GER) she sent her javelin out to a world-leading 67.69m with her last round effort for a surprise gold medal in Beijing, a stark contrast to two years ago in Moscow when she failed to qualify for the final.
Mariya Kuchina (RUS) has a habit of rising to the occasion and the high jumper equaled her personal best of 2.01m to take the world title. Other wins in 2015 included victories at the European Indoor Championships and European Team Championships.
Maryna Arzamasova (BLR) ran a personal best and European-leading 800m time of 1:57.54 in her IAAF World Championships semi-final and then showed great acceleration down the home straight to take the gold medal in the final in 1:58.03.
Sandra Perkovic (CRO) once again the leading European discus thrower, she threw 70.08m in March and carried on her high level consistency throughout the summer by winning the Diamond Race, although she was unable to defend her world title and finished second in Beijing.
Sifan Hassan (NED) the fastest European 1500m runner for more than nine years after running a European under-23 record of 3:56.05 at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco, she also took a world championships bronze medal.
Zuzana Hejnova (CZE) produced a world-leading 400m hurdles time of 53.50 to win her second consecutive world title, a remarkable comeback after missing almost all of 2014 to injury, and she also won the Diamond Race.
Nominees for Men's Rising Star 2015:
Ali Kaya (TUR) just 21, he won the European indoor 3000m title, followed by the European U23 5000m and 10,000m gold victories in championship records. His 5000m personal best of 13:00.31, set in Rome was a European U23 record, and the fastest time by a European this year.
Armand Duplantis (SWE) only 15, he won the IAAF World Youth Championships pole vault gold medal in a championship record and personal best of 5.30m, the best mark by a European boy in 2015.
Bence Halász (HUN) the 18-year-old hammer thrower won the European junior title with a championship record of 79.60m after a personal best of 79.86m earlier in the season, and he has another year in the junior ranks.
Bartlomiej Stoj (POL) the 19-year-old improved by more than four metres at the European Athletics Junior Championships to win the discus with a national junior record of 68.02m in Eskilstuna, moving up to third on the European junior all-time list.
Hlib Piskunov (UKR) the outstanding boy’s hammer thrower in the world this year with the top six marks of 2015, the 16-year-old won at the IAAF World Youth Championships in a championship record and world-leading distance of 84.91m.
Konrad Bukowiecki (POL) the dominant junior shot putter in the world this year, the 18-year-old reached 22.62m to win the European junior title, a distance only two other juniors have ever reached, and set a world junior best of 20.78m with the senior implement.
Nazim Babayev (AZE) just 17, he bounded out to 2015 junior world-leading distance of 17.04m to win at the European Athletics Junior Championships, the best mark by a European junior for five years, and he moves up to sixth on the European junior all-time list.
Niklas Kaul (GER) an all-round talent, the 17-year-old won the decathlon at the IAAF World Youth Championships in a championship record and world best performance of 8002 points, and he also took the silver medal in the javelin.
Patryk Dobek (POL) only 21, he won the European U23 400m hurdles title in 48.84m and then improved further to 48.40 in the semi-finals at the IAAF World Championships, the fastest time in the world by an under 23 hurdler, before finishing seventh in the final.
Zharnel Hughes (GBR) the 20-year-old sprinter finished fifth in the IAAF World Championships 200m, running 20.02 for third place on the European under 23 all-time list and he also was the second fastest European of any age in 2015.
Nominees for Women's Rising Star 2015:
Alexandra Tavernier (FRA) the former world junior champion is still only 21 and won the European U23 hammer title with a championships record in Tallinn, then took the bronze medal at the IAAF World Championships, throwing a personal best of 74.39m in the qualifying rounds.
Bianca Razor (ROU) the former European junior champion, now 21, was an impressive winner of the European U23 400m title and then ran 50.37 in her heat at the IAAF World Championships, the fastest time by a European under 23 runner for five years.
Christin Hussong (GER) now 21, she won the European U23 javelin title with a championship record and then finished sixth at the IAAF World Championships after throwing 65.92m in the qualifying rounds, the second best mark ever by a European under 23 athlete.
Dina Asher-Smith (GBR) the 19-year-old finished second in the European indoor 60m, and outdoors she was the fastest European under 23 over 100m and 200m, running 10.99 for the shorter sprint and finishing fifth in the IAAF World Championships 200m in 22.07.
Emel Dereli (TUR) defended her European junior shot put title with 18.40m, the best distance in the world this year by a junior, and the 19-year-old had an unbeaten season in 16 competitions including wins at the European Team Championships First League and the Balkan Championships.
Florentina Marincu (ROU) just 19, she won the European indoor long jump bronze medal with a personal best of 6.79m and then defended her European junior title. She was Europe’s top junior long jumper in 2015 and also won a triple jump bronze medal in Eskilstuna.
Klavidya Afanasyeva (RUS) after winning the junior 10km race walk at the European Cup Race Walking, the 19-year-old walker won the European junior 10,000m title on the track in Eskilstuna in a championship record and 2015 junior world-leading time of 43:36.88.
Lyudmyla Olyanovska (UKR) the 22-year-old 2014 European Championships 20km race walk silver medallist had an erratic season but, after only finishing third at the European Athletics U23 Championships, she bounced back to take the bronze medal at the IAAF World Championships.
Noemi Zbären (SUI) was outstanding in the European U23 100m hurdles final and won in a personal best of 12.71, and the 21-year-old former European junior champion then went on to finish sixth at the IAAF World Championships.
Tugba Güvenc (TUR) dominated the 3000m steeplechase final at the European Athletics U23 Championships, winning in a championships record of 9:36.14, the 21-year-old had earlier in the season run a European-leading U23 time of 9:33.34 in Istanbul.