The athletes in European Athletics continue to impress. The EA top men are among the finest athletes in their events around the world. Not only are they followed on the European continent, but, around the world!
Olympic gold medallists, European champions and all era-defining athletes in their events, the three finalists for the men’s 2024 European Athlete of the Year trophy are representative of the high quality athletes currently representing European nations on the international stage.
The winners of the men’s and women’s European Athletes of the Year and Rising Star awards will be announced at the Golden Tracks award night which will be held in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia on 26 October and streamed live on the European Athletics YouTube channel.
From a long-list of 10 athletes, the three finalists were decided based on a four-part voting process with a public vote, a Member Federation vote, a media vote and a European Athletics expert panel vote each accounting for one-quarter of the overall vote.
In alphabetical order, the three men’s European Athlete of the Year finalists for 2024 are:
Armand Duplantis (SWE)
- European pole vault champion
- World record clearances of 6.24m, 6.25m and 6.26m
- Olympic pole vault champion
- World indoor pole vault champion
- Diamond League champion
It has been yet another spellbinding year for the Swede who continues to raise the bar metaphorically and literally in the pole vault. By his own lofty standards, the seemingly unbeatable Duplantis suddenly looked susceptible in the indoor season before a successful final attempt at 6.05m salvaged a second gold medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March.
But as the outdoor season got underway, Duplantis sent out a fresh statement of intent, setting a world record of 6.24m at the Diamond League in Xiamen in April. He went on to break his record twice more, most gloriously at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (6.25m) and then finally at the Diamond League in Silesia in August with 6.26m.
It all added up to an unbeaten year of 15 competitions that also included gold a third gold medal at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships in June. He even found time to take on Karsten Warholm over 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich which he also won.
Duplantis has yet to win the European Athlete of the Year accolade outright, having shared the honour with Jakob…
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