Renaud Lavillenie of France and Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands have been voted European Athletes of the Month for May.
Voting for European Athlete of the Month took place through our European Athletics Twitter and Facebook pages over the past 24 hours. Athletes with the most combined Twitter 'retweets' and Facebook 'likes' were crowned the winners.
Dafne Schippers who had been nominated for the award the past two months, was finally able to secure the prize with 180 retweets and favourites on Twitter, and more than 800 Facebook likes.
180 RTs & favs, over 400 FB likes, Dutch star @dafneschippers YOUR women's Euro #athleteofthemonth for May! pic.twitter.com/r0AMjOQ2Ks
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) June 3, 2015
The Dutch star sped to a European-leading 100m time and national record of 10.94 on home soil in Hengelo on 24 May, the fastest time by a European for almost 10 years, and also a European-leading 200m in 22.39 on 30 May.
Schippers also announced today that she will stick with sprinting for the upcoming IAAF World Championships in Beijing and towards the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
SPRINT it is. A very tough decisions. But it feels good for now. I'm looking forward to the WC Athletics and Olympics pic.twitter.com/LMHSVr9Fgq
— Dafne Schippers (@dafneschippers) June 3, 2015
With over 700 likes & shares on Facebook, and 120 'retweets' and favourites, Lavillenie was the clear winner on the men's side, having cleared an outdoor best of 6.05m in Eugene on 30 May.
The world record holder with 6.16m from Donetsk last year now has the rest of the season to try to improve on his mark and win a title still missing from his collection at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing.
120 RTs & favs + over 700 FB likes and shares, @airlavillenie is YOUR men's Euro #athleteofthemonth for May! pic.twitter.com/FzdVhSy8OD
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) June 3, 2015