After five days of voting across European Athletics' Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts, Nafissatou Thiam and Renaud Lavillenie have been voted European Athletes of the Month for March 2020.
Action across the last two weekends of the month were effectively wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic but Thiam and Lavillenie both delivered notable performances on the second day of the French Indoor Championships in Lievin at the start of March.
Competing as a guest, heptathlon specialist Thiam soared out to a Belgian indoor record of 6.79m in the long jump - a mark surpassed only by world medallists Malaika Mihambo (7.07m), Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk (6.96m) and Ese Brume (6.82m) this winter - while Lavillenie cleared 5.80m in the pole vault to record his 150th competition at 5.80m or higher in his career.
Lavillenie tallied 3569 votes across social media to finish comfortably ahead of Spain’s European indoor heptathlon champion Jorge Urena (2260) and Belgian marathon record-holder Bashir Abdi (2217) in the voting while Thiam led the women’s voting with 3947 votes from Poland’s Justyna Swiety-Ersetic (2928) and Great Britain’s Lily Partridge (1809).
Men's voting
Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) 3569
Jorge Urena (ESP) 2260
Bashir Abdi (BEL) 2217
Pablo Torrijos (ESP) 1925
Filip Mihaljevic (CRO) 1805
With 3569 votes across social media, Renaud Lavillenie is your men's European Athlete of the Month for March!
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) April 7, 2020
Lavillenie cleared 5.80m at the French Indoor Championships in Lievin to record his 150th 5.80m-plus competition of his career. pic.twitter.com/Wvu0yYhtg4
Women's voting
Nafissatou Thiam (BEL) 3947
Justyna Swiety-Ersetic (POL) 2928
Lily Partridge (GBR) 1809
Sandra Perkovic (CRO) 1721
Lonah Chemtai Salpeter (ISR) 1231
With 3947 votes across social media, Nafissatou Thiam is your women's European Athlete of the Month for March!
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) April 7, 2020
Competing as a guest at the French Indoor Championships, Thiam smashed the Belgian indoor long jump record with 6.79m. pic.twitter.com/4MTerzwNQh