European Athletics is pleased to announce that Lithuania’s Virgilijus Alekna and Jessica Augusto of Portugal have been voted by the fans and media as European Athletes of the Month for April.
Alekna, the two-time Olympic Games discus champion tossed his implement out to a European-leading distance of 64.70m in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on 17 April to show that he is still a force to be reckoned with at 42! What an incredible story it would be to see the 2005 European Athlete of the Year stand on the podium at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich this summer.
Second in the vote was Great Britain’s Greg Rutherford the London 2012 Olympic Games long jump champion lept to an impressive national record of 8.51m in the Californian town of Chula Vista on 24 April to move up to sixth on the European all-time list. If Rutherford is able to maintain his form throughout the season he will be a serious contender for gold in Zurich.
Estonia’s Maicel Uibo, still only 21, was voted in third after his European-leading decathlon total of 8123 points set in Athens, Georgia, on 9-10 April; his marks included a high jump personal best of 2.16m.
On the women’s side, the award went to Portugal’s Jessica Augusto the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships winner ran a personal best of 2:24:25 at the London Marathon on 13 April to take sixth place with the third fastest time by a European runner this year. With this fine performance, she will be a major medal threat in Zurich.
In second place was the Czech Republic’s Anezka Drahotová, the 2013 European Athletics Junior Championships 10,000m race walking champion, who is still only 19, won the 20km event in the Czech spa town of Podebrady, a European Athletics Race Walking Permit Meeting, in an impressive 1:29:43. We look forward to seeing how this pure talent continues to develop over the years to come.
In third was Poland’s Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz, the 2013 European Athletics Junior Championships 400m gold medallist ran the outstanding time of 37.51 in the 300m on her home town track in Poznan on 26 April, a world-leading time for the non-championship distance.
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.