Portugal’s track and field stars Isaac Nader and Pedro Pichardo have been shortlisted for European Athlete of the Year, the European Athletics Association announced on Thursday.
Nader, the world 1,500m champion, and Pichardo, who won gold for the second time in the triple jump, are up against some of the biggest names in athletics – including five other world champions crowned recently at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Among them are Sweden’s pole vault sensation Armand Duplantis, fresh from yet another pole vault world record, his compatriot Daniel Ståhl, world champions in the discus, Italy’s Mattia Furlani in the long jump, Germany’s Leo Neugebauer in the decathlon, and France’s Jimmy Gressier, gold medallist in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5,000. The shortlist also features Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna, world silver medallist in the discus, and Norwegian duo Jakob Ingebrigtsen – European champion over 1,500m and 3,000m indoors – and Sander Skotheim, who won European and world indoor gold in the heptathlon before being disqualified in the decathlon at Tokyo 2025.
Voting is already open on the European Athletics website and will count for 25% of the final result – the same weight given to the votes of national federations, media and the European Athletics expert panel.
Sweden’s Duplantis took the award in 2024, succeeding Ingebrigtsen, who won outright in 2023 and shared the crown with Duplantis in 2022.
The women’s race is also stacked with talent. Nominees include Italy’s Nadia Battocletti, Dutch stars Femke Bol, Jessica Schilder and Jorinde Van Klinken, Britain’s Georgia Hunter-Bell, Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji, Ireland’s Kate O’Connor, Spain’s María Pérez, Slovenia’s Tina Šutej and Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, last year’s winner after two straight titles for Bol.
European Athletics will also crown the Rising Stars of the Year. The men’s list includes Spain’s Joan Querol, Germany’s Owe Fischer-Breiholz, Norway’s Håkon Moe Berg, France’s Elijah Pasquier, Czech athlete Michal Rada, Bulgaria’s Bozhidar Saraboyukov, Italy’s Matteo Sioli, Hungary’s Ármin Szabados, Poland’s Hubert Troscianka and the Netherlands’ Jarno van Daalen.
In the women’s category, nominees are Italy’s Kelly Doualla and Erika Saraceni, Spain’s Sofia Santacreu and Jil Sánchez, Britain’s Innes FitzGerald, Norway’s Henriette Jaeger, Croatia’s Jana Koščak, Estonia’s Allika Inkeri Moser, Romania’s Alexandra Ștefania Uța and Switzerland’s Audrey Werro.
The three finalists in each of the four categories – men’s and women’s Athlete of the Year and Rising Star – will be revealed the week of October 6.
