Polish middle-distance runner Sofia Ennaoui and Norwegian talent Jakub Ingebrigtsen have been voted European Athletes of the Month for December.
Voting for European Athlete of the Month took place through our European Athletics Twitter and Facebook pages over the past week. Athletes with the most combined Twitter ‘retweets’ and Facebook ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ were crowned the winners.
With more than 2,000 combined likes, retweets & shares, Ennaoui was the winner on the women’s having won Poland's first ever gold medal at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships with her victory in the women's under-23 race in Chia.
Ennaoui really is a versatile runner and has already proved her strength with success on the major European stage. In 2013, she won 1500m silver at the European Athletics Junior Championships in Rieti and then in Tallinn she won the same medal at the 2015 European U23 Championships.
That was a base for her European seventh place in Amsterdam in the summer ahead of being 10th in the Olympic final in Rio.
Your Female Athlete of the Month for December: Sofia Ennaoui! #athleteofthemonth pic.twitter.com/0eDuzhyFSR
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) January 9, 2017
[FACEBOOK ID='https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanAthletics/videos/10154654301196181/']
It was a sensational performance by 16-year-old Ingebrigsten in the men's under-20 race in Chia which landed him the men's award with close to 1,500 votes.He joins his older brothers Filip and Henrik who both made the podium at the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam winning gold and bronze respectively in the 1500m.
Your Male Athlete of the Month for December: Jakob Ingebrigtsen! #athleteofthemonth pic.twitter.com/cujUBC76de
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) January 9, 2017
[FACEBOOK ID='https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanAthletics/videos/10154654240711181/']