The winners of the Waterford Crystal European Athletes of the Year and European Athletics Rising Stars were presented with their awards at a glamorous affair at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Malta this weekend.
In front of over 300 invited guests, Croatian High Jumper Blanka Vlasic and Finnish Javelin Thrower Tero Pitkí¤mí¤ki, received the top awards of European male and female Athlete of the Year while British Hepthatlete Jessica Ennis and Italian Long Jumper Andrew Howe, received the inaugural European Athletics male and female Rising Star awards from European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz.
The winners were selected after an on-line poll on the European Athletics website, voted for by thousands of European Athletics fans, Member Federations, the public and a panel of experts.
The awards presentation formed part of a busy weekend for the sport in Europe when the 2008 calendar was finalised, a Presidents & General Secretaries workshop was held along with a two-day meeting of the Council, where a number of important decisions will be taken.
On Monday the host cities for the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the 2009 SPAR European Cross Country Championships will be decided.
Goteborg (SWE) and Paris (FRA) will go head-to-head for the Indoor Championships while Bydgoszcz,(POL) Carcassonne (FRA) and Dublin (IRL) will be looking to win the right to host the Cross Country in 2009.