Switzerland’s Julien Wanders and Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic were voted male and female European Athletes of the Month for February 2018.
After a string of notable wins across Europe in November and December, Wanders finished an excellent second in the Barcelona Half Marathon on 11 February. Not only did he break Tadesse Abraham’s Swiss senior record, his time of 60:09 was also a European U23 record. He also moved to sixth on the European all-time lists behind Mo Farah (59:22), Antonio Pinto (59:43), Sondre Nordstad Moen (59:48), Fabian Roncero (59:52) and Callum Hawkins (60:00).
Wanders’ next race will be the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia, Spain on 24 March.
Your male European Athlete of the Month for February is Julien Wanders!
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) March 6, 2018
Wanders finished second in the Barcelona Half Marathon on 11 February, setting a European U23 and Swiss senior record of 60:09. #athleteofthemonth pic.twitter.com/J316zcGh6b
Spanovic arrived at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham at the top of the world lists after going out to 6.93m on home soil at the Serbian Open Indoor Meeting in Belgrade on 21 February. She also won in Dusseldorf with 6.77m and finished third in both Karlsruhe and Glasgow.
Your female European Athlete of the Month for February is Ivana Spanovic!
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) March 6, 2018
Spanovic was a winner on home soil at the Serbian Open Indoor Meeting in Belgrade where she set a world-lead of 6.93m to win the long jump. #athleteofthemonth pic.twitter.com/eKx3DdM7m5