The final three contenders for this year’s Rising Stars awards have been revealed.
In the men’s category, the trio who are still in contention for the prestigious award – which will be presented at a televised gala evening in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on Saturday 14 October – are Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Miltiadis Tentoglou and Karsten Warholm.
The three women on the shortlist, who all took titles at the Bydgoszcz 2017 European Athletics U23 Championships, are Yasemin Can, Konstanze Klosterhalfen and Yuliya Levchenko.
The voting for the original 10 nominees in each category was concluded on Tuesday 26 September.
The winning athletes will be decided by votes from the fans, media, European Athletics Member Federations as well as an expert European Athletics panel, with the results from each group of voters counting for one quarter of the athlete's final score.
Men
- Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) was one of the stars of the Grosseto 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships. After falling in the 1500m final, Ingebrigtsen came back to win gold medals in the 3000m steeplechase and 5000m. Ingebrigtsen also became the youngest ever athlete to break the four minutes for the mile. On his 3000m steeplechase debut, Ingebrigtsen broke the 41-year-old European U20 record with 8:26.81 and he also set a European U18 5000m best of 13:35.84.
- Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) came within five centimetres of the world U20 long jump record with 8.30m when claiming the Greek senior title in July. After finishing second at the IAAF World U20 Championships in 2016, Tentoglou capped his junior career with gold at the Grosseto 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships with 8.07m.
- Karsten Warholm (NOR) flew to a national 400m hurdles record of 48.25 on his season’s debut at the event. He went on to win the European U23 title in Bydgoszcz in a championship record of 48.37 before claiming the world title in London. At the IAAF Diamond League final in Zurich he improved his Norwegian record and European-leading mark to 48.22. On the flat, Warholm improved the Norwegian record to 44.87 and also won a silver medal without the barriers in Bydgoszcz.
Women
- Yasemin Can (TUR) claimed a long distance double at the Bydgoszcz 2017 European Athletics U23 Championships.On the second day of the championships, Can took the 10,000m title in a championship record of 31:39.89 before dominating the 5000m two days later, setting another championship record of 15:01.67. She also won a 3000m silver medal at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March.
- Konstanze Klosterhalfen (GER) broke the four minute-barrier for 1500m three times this season, ending her outdoor campaign with a 3:58.92 clocking for victory on home soil in Berlin, the fastest time by a German since 1987.She also set her first national senior record with 8:29.81 over 3000m in Birmingham in August. After winning silver over 1500m at the European Athletics Indoor Championships, Klosterhalfen improved to gold in this event at the European Athletics U23 Championships and got maximum points for Germany over 1500m at the European Athletics Team Championships Super League.
- Yuliya Levchenko (UKR) won three major medals in her first season in the senior ranks. She woin bronze at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade before clearing a lifetime best of 1.96m to claim the European U23 title in Bydgoszcz. Levchenko then set two personal bests, including surpassed the two metre-barrier for the first time, at the world championships when getting the silver medal with a national U23 record of 2.01m.