European Athletics is very pleased to announce the three finalists for the women’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 women’s European Athlete of the Year winners have included fellow Olympic champions Gabriela Szabo, Carolina Klüft, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mariya Lasitskene and Sifan Hassan.
Last year’s women’s European Athlete of the Year was Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh who broke Stefka Kostadinova’s long-standing world high jump record with 2.10m and won gold medals at the European Athletics Championships and Olympic Games in Rome and Paris respectively.
The three finalists, listed in alphabetical order with their main achievements in 2025 summarised, are:
Femke Bol (NED) | Profile
- World 400m hurdles champion
- European indoor 4x400m and mixed 4x400m champion
- European Athletics Team Championships 400m winner
- Diamond League 400m hurdles champion
- World mixed 4x400m silver and 4x400m bronze medallist
- World 400m hurdles leader with 51.54
It has been yet another superlative season for Femke Bol who became only the second athlete in history to win back-to-back world titles in the 400m hurdles, taking gold in Tokyo in a championship record and world lead of 51.54.
Bol eased her way into the season by only contesting the relays on home soil at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn where she won both titles, a precursor to an outdoor season which saw Bol set eight of the 10 fastest times in the 400m hurdles in 2025.
Bol is no stranger to winning awards at the Golden Tracks. After winning the Rising Star accolade in 2021, Bol was anointed European Athlete of the Year in both 2022 and 2023. Can she become the first woman in history to win this award three times?
Ditaji Kambundji (SUI) | Profile
- World 100m hurdles champion
- European indoor 60m hurdles champion
- European Athletics Team Championship 100m hurdles winner
- European indoor 60m hurdles record with 7.67
Ditaji Kambundji has been absolutely peerless in the major events in 2025.
The Swiss supremo won a hotly-anticipated 60m hurdles at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn in a European record of 7.67 before blazing to 100m hurdles gold in Tokyo in 12.24, just 0.03 shy of Yordanka Donkova’s long-standing European record which stood as the world record from 1988 until 2016.
Kambundji, who won Switzerland’s first gold medal at the World Athletics Championships since 2001 in Tokyo, will be looking to make further history by becoming the first Swiss athlete to be crowned women’s European Athlete of the Year in award history.
Maria Pérez (ESP) | Profile
- World 20km and 35km race walk champion
- European Race Walking Team Championships 35km winner
- World leader in the 35km race walk with 2:38:59
The hot and humid conditions proved especially challenging for the endurance athletes at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo but not so much for Spain’s Maria Pérez who marched to the first gold medal of the championships in the 35km race walk in 2:39:01, the 10th fastest time in history.
And after defending her 35km race walk title, Pérez returned later in the championships to retain her 20km race walk title in 1:25:54. In doing so, she became the first woman to win two individual gold medals in back-to-back editions of the World Athletics Championships.
Pérez was also victorious on the continental stage at the European Race Walking Team Championships in Podebrady, winning gold in the 35km race walk in 2:38:59 despite stopping for a mid-race comfort break.
The men’s European Athlete of the Year finalists will be announced tomorrow.
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)