World finalists Alina Talay and Pavel Bareisha were crowned Belarusian Athletes of the Year at the fourth “ATLETIKA” Gala which was staged at the Marriott Hotel in Minsk on Thursday (11) evening.
Talay and Bareisha were both presented with bronze statuettes as recognition for their achievements in 2017. Talay won the silver medal in the 60m hurdles at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March before finishing sixth in the 100m hurdles at the IAAF World Championships in London.
Bareisha finished ninth in the hammer in London, three weeks before winning a silver medal at the World University Games in Taipei. He also finished second at the European Throwing Cup in Las Palmas and second at the European Athletics Team Championships Super League in Lille Metropole in June.
European U23 high jump champion Dmitriy Nabokau and European U23 100m hurdles silver medallist Elvira Herman were named Belarusian U23 Athletes of the Year while European U20 champions Maksim Nedasekau (high jump) and Violetta Skvartsova (triple jump) were crowned Belarusian U20 Athletes of the Year.
In other categories, European indoor high jump bronze medallist Pavel Seliverstau was named Breakthrough Athlete of the Year while the gold medal-winning team at the European 10,000m Cup in Minsk - led by Volha Mazuronak - won the inaugural Team of the Year award.