The 2015 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria, on 14 December provided a fantastic showcase for the continent’s top distance runners and we are very happy to include all six individual winners in this month’s nominees.
In addition, several other runners from the Championships are included after rising to the occasion and shining in their races against older and more experienced opponents.
We feel that their performances, despite them not winning a title in Bulgaria, warrant them being among the nominees for European Athlete of the Month.
European runners also made an impact in a variety of road races and other cross country meetings and the nominees also included athletes, including a number of youths, who have made the headlines after their early winter indoor feats.
European Athletics is consequently pleased to announce that athletes from 12 different countries have been nominated for the December award.
At the end of each month, a panel of experts produces a short list of the outstanding athletes and performances achieved by European athletes during that month, which is then mailed to the European athletics media and thousands of fans who have signed up to receive news from European Athletics.
The European Athlete of the Month fan voting takes place through our Facebook page, while members of the media can cast their vote on our website.
Fans are also able to vote through the European Athletics mobile applications on iPhone and Android phones.
The public, media and a group of expert statisticians cast their votes for the European Athlete of the Month with each category counting as 33.3 per cent of the vote.
For example, the winner of each poll will be awarded 10 points, second 9 points, etc. and the athlete with the most points after the three different polls have been counted will be declared the winner.
In the unlikely event of a tie, Hansjörg Wirz, the president of European Athletics, will have the casting vote.
The voting will close on Sunday 18 January at noon CET.
The European Athlete of the Month initiative was launched in January 2007 and is designed to recognise outstanding performers at all levels of the sport in Europe.
No athlete who has previously served a two-year doping ban can be nominated for the European Athlete of the Month.
MEN
Adam Hague GBR (pole vault): the prodigious 17-year-old Briton cleared an absolute personal best of 5.46m indoors in Manchester on 21 December, which was not only a national junior indoor record but also a world youth indoor best.
Ali Kaya TUR (cross country): still only 20, the 2013 junior champion leaped an age group and contested the SPAR European Cross Country Championships senior race in Samokov, beating everyone but his compatriot Polat Kemboi Arikan and eventually taking the silver medal.
Danyil Lysenko RUS (high jump): still only 17, the 2014 Youth Olympic Games winner equalled his outdoor best and equalled the world indoor youth best when he cleared 2.24m in Kineshma on 6 December.
Henryk Szost POL (marathon): he bounced back after a couple of disappointing outings, including failing to finish at the European Athletics Championships in the summer, to end the year on a high note when he finished sixth in the Fukuoka Marathon in 2:10:02 on 7 December.
Ilgizar Safiulin RUS (cross country): the 2011 European junior 3000m steeplechase champion led home a Russian clean sweep of the Under-23 medals at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships, pulling away from his compatriots over the final 500m.
Konrad Bukowiecki POL (shot put): set the European absolute youth best with the 5kg implement, and also set a world indoor youth best, when he reached 24.24m in Spala on 30 December, having also improved the world indoor youth best three times earlier in the month.
Polat Kemboi Arikan TUR (cross country): the 2012 European 10,000m champion won his first continental cross country title in Samokov, after finishing second in 2013, sprinting away from his compatriot Ali Kaya in the final 200m of the senior race to take the victory.
Thomas Somers GBR (sprinting): the 17-year-old ran a national junior indoor best and world-leading time of 33.44 for the non-championship distance of 300m in Sheffield on 6 December, one of the fastest times ever recorded by a youth.
Yemaneberhan Crippa ITA (cross country): the youngest of all the champions in Samokov, he won the junior men’s race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships by the huge margin of 15 seconds; at just 18, he’s still young enough to defend his title in 2015.
Yohann Diniz FRA (walking): the 2014 European 50km champion and world record holder added to his big list of accolades in Reims on 7 December when he reduced his French indoor best over 5000m to 18:16:76 and moved up to number five on the all-time list.
WOMEN
Alessandra Aguilar ESP (cross country): although not being part of the Spanish team at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships, she had two very good wins on home soil during December: in Aranda Del Duero on 6 December and in Toledo on 14 December.
Alina Reh GER (cross country): still only 17, she courageously led the SPAR European Cross Country Championships junior women’s race for much of the first half before finishing just outside the medals in fourth and she has another two years in this category.
Ana Dulce Felix POR (road running): the 2012 European 10,000m champion was a hugely impressive winner in 32:17 of the seventh edition of the high quality Sao Silvestre de Lisboa 10km race on 27 December, winning by exactly a minute.
Gemma Steel GBR (cross country): won at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in convincing fashion by holding off her compatriot Kate Avery, she also won the famous San Silvestre Vallecana 10km road race in Madrid on 31 December.
Kristina Sivkova RUS (60m): still only 17, she clocked 7.30 at the Bulatovs Memorial indoor meeting in Omsk on 27 December to take two-hundredths of the European youth indoor best, it was also the second fastest time in the world this winter at the start of 2015.
Liudmyla Olyanovska UKR (race walking): the 2014 European Athletics Championships 20km silver medallist clocked 21:21.13 over 5000m at the Volodymyr Golobnychyy indoor meeting in Sumy on 24 December.
Militsa Mircheva BUL (cross country): still only 20, after finishing a modest 32nd as a junior in 2013 she had the race of her life in her first year in the under-23 ranks to give the host country an unexpected silver medal at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
Rhona Auckland GBR (cross country): caused one of the big surprises in Samokov when she went clear on the final lap and convincingly won the under-23 race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships, and she’s still young enough to defend her title in 2015.
Emine Hatun Tuna TUR (cross country): just seven days after her 19th birthday, she took the junior women’s title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships by five seconds to finally get a medal at these Championships on her fourth appearance.
Volha Mazuronak BLR (marathon): the former teenage walking talent has now switched to road running and took exactly six minutes off her personal best when she won the California International marathon in Sacramento in 2:37:33 on 7 December.