Recently crowned Youth Olympic Games champions Baptiste Thiery from France and Elina Tzengko from Greece have been voted male and female European Athletes of the Month for October.
Voting took place on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and the votes were combined across the three platforms. Thiery accrued 3397 votes to top the voting ahead of European marathon record-holder Mo Farah (3204) and European 10km record-holder Julien Wanders (2838).
Thiery cleared 5.30m to win a silver medal at the European Athletics U18 Championships in Gyor in July but the 17-year-old went one better in Buenos Aires, improving his lifetime best to 5.32m to secure the gold medal.
On the women’s side, Tzengko recovered from a disappointing European U18 Championships to win the gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in the javelin, setting a European U18 best of 63.34m with the 500g implement.
Tzengko tallied 3470 votes across the three platforms to lead the voting ahead of fellow Youth Olympic Games champions Yaroslava Mahuchikh from Ukraine (3150) and Aleksandra Nacheva from Bulgaria (2731).
The European Athlete of the Month initiative was launched in January 2007 and is designed to recognise outstanding performances set by European athletes.
Men's voting
Baptiste Thiery 3397
Mo Farah 3204
Julien Wanders 2838
Tobias Laine 2463
Myhaylo Kokhan 1942
Your male Athlete of the Month for October: Baptiste Thiery!
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) November 9, 2018
Thiery cleared a lifetime best of 5.32m to win the pole vault title at the Youth Olympic Games and secured 3397 votes across social media.#athleteofthemonth pic.twitter.com/6T75p81EwK
Women's voting
Elina Tzengko 3470
Yaroslava Mahuchikh 3150
Aleksandra Nacheva 2731
Lonah Chemtai Salpeter 2385
Alina Reh 2109
Your female Athlete of the Month for October: Elina Tzengko!
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) November 9, 2018
Tzengko won the javelin at the Youth Olympic Games with a European U18 best of 63.34m with the 500g implement and secured 3470 votes across social media. #athleteofthemonth pic.twitter.com/W9u9UUf1YS