Europe’s best athletes of the year
Femke Ball from the Netherlands and Arman Duplantis from Sweden were selected
The best sportsmen of the year in Europe again at the Golden Tracks awards ceremony held in Batumi,
Georgia. This was the third time Ball and Duplantis have been crowned European Athletes
of the year, a feat only previously achieved by Great Britain’s Mo Farah.
Ball also won the award in 2022 and 2023, while Duplantis shared the men’s award.
Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen in 2022 before winning the award outright in 2024.
Ball and Duplantis combined for undefeated seasons in their respective events in 2025. Bol
capped his season by defending his 400m hurdles title at the World Athletics Championships
Championship in Tokyo with a championship record of 51.54, while Duplantis achieved his
Fourth world record of 2025 and 14th of his career at 6.30m in Tokyo.
to win his third pole vault world title. Neither Ball nor Duplantis were present
ceremony
Both Ball and Duplantis are also previous Rising Star Award winners, winning this award
cup in 2021 and 2018 respectively. This year’s Rising Star winners were the Swiss
Audrey Vero and Polish Hubert Troshyanka, the latter handed over his trophy.
President of European Athletics Dobromir Karamarinov.
Ball was one of three finalists for the European Sportsman of the Year award
World Champions along with Ditaji Kambundji and Maria Perez from Switzerland
Spain. Duplantis has been shortlisted for the men’s award alongside fellow indoor and indoor worlds.
World 10,000m outdoor long jump champion Mattia Furlani from Italy and France
champion Jimmy Gresien.
Switzerland’s Audrey Verro and Poland’s Hubert Troszianka received awards as 2025.
Women’s and Men’s Rising Stars in Batumi.
Vero, who received his trophy from European Athletics chief executive Christian Milz, walked
won 800m gold at the European U23 Athletics Championships in a championship record
1:57.42. In Zurich, he won the Diamond League title with a national record
1:55.91 before finishing 6th in the highly competitive 800m World Championships
championship in Tokyo.
Troshyanka was one of the breakthrough performers at the European Under-20 Athletics Championships
Championships in Tampere where he won the decathlon title with a world under-20 record
8514 points, improving the 8435 points set by German Niklas Kaul – 2019.
Men’s Rising Star – 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships.
2025 Golden Tracks winners
European Sportswoman of the Year: Femke Ball (NED)
European Men’s Athlete of the Year – Armand Duplantis (SWE)
Women’s Rising Star Winner – Audrey Verreau (SUI)
Men’s Rising Star Winner – Hubert Trosyanka (POL)
Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Robert Emmian (ARM)
Coaching award winners – Marina Kotrikadze (GEO) and Sigmund Zilberstein (GEO)
Referees of the year – Anna Palmerus (SWE) and Nils van der Aar (NED)
