Christophe Lemaître of France has been voted the 2010 winner of the men's European Athlete of the Year Award presented by MONDO.
Still just 20, the French sprint prodigy has followed a rapid trajectory after being named as the winner of the European Athletics Rising Star of the Year 12 months ago.
He made history at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona by becoming the first man to win three gold medals – 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay – at a single championships.
He was the fastest man in Europe over both the 100m and 200m in 2010, clocking national records of 9.97 and 20.16 during the summer.
Lemaitre will be recognised for his feats at the European Athletics Awards Night presented by MONDO on Saturday 16 October in Belgrade, Serbia, alongside the women's European Athlete of the Year winner, who will be announced later this week, and the European Athletics Rising Star of the Year winners Teddy Tamgho and Sandra Perković.
Fans, media and European Athletics Member Federations were invited to vote for the European Athlete of the Year on the European Athletics website. Along with the votes from a panel of experts, each group of voters' results count for one quarter of the athlete's final score.
The shortlist for the award was compiled by selecting the top European athlete in each event, based largely on performances at the European Athletics Championships, World Indoor Championships, European Athletics events and the series of Diamond League and European Athletics meetings. Only in very exceptional cases were two athletes from one event nominated.
No athlete who has previously served a two-year doping ban can be nominated for European Athlete of the Year.
Men's European Athlete of the Year presented by MONDO final rankings
1. Christophe Lemaitre (FRA)
2. Andreas Thorkildsen (NOR)
3. Mo Farah (GBR)
4. Teddy Tamgho (FRA)
5. David Greene (GBR)
6. Christian Reif (GER)
7. Aleksandr Shustov (RUS)
8. Piotr Malachowski (POL)
9. Marcin Lewandowski (POL)
10. Renaud Lavillenie (FRA)
11. Romain Barras (FRA)
12. Viktor Roethlin (SUI)
13. Phillips Idowu (GBR)
14. Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad (FRA)
15. Yohann Diniz (FRA)
16. Alemayehu Bezabeh (ESP)
17. Libor Charfreitag (SVK)
European Athlete of the Year previous winners
1993 Linford Christie (GBR)1994 Colin Jackson (GBR)
1995 Jonathan Edwards (GBR)
1996 Jan Zelezny (CZE)
1997 Wilson Kipketer (DEN)
1998 Jonathan Edwards (GBR)
1999 Tomás Dvorak (CZE)
2000 Jan Zelezny (CZE)
2001 André Bucher (SUI)
2002 Dwain Chambers (GBR)
2003 Christian Olsson (SWE)
2004 Christian Olsson (SWE)
2005 Virgilijus Alekna (LTU)
2006 Francis Obikwelu (POR)
2007 Tero Pitkí¤mí¤ki (FIN)
2008 Andreas Thorkildsen (NOR)
2009 Phillips Idowu (GBR)
2010 season: Christophe Lemaître
50m:5.71i PB 1 Pas de Calais Liévin 5 Mar
5.73i 1h1 Pas de Calais Liévin 5 Mar
60m:
6.62i 1 Aubière 16 Jan
6.65i 1-22 Aubière 16 Jan
6.66i 1 Bordeaux 24 Jan
6.63i 1 Val-de-Re