The finalists for the 2026 men’s and women’s European Athlete of the Year and Rising Star awards are being revealed this week (1-4 October). Here, we reveal the final three for the men’s award.
From the shortlists of 10 athletes in each category, the final three have now been confirmed following a voting process that attracted over 40,000 votes. Fans, media, member federations and an expert panel each accounted for 25 percent of the final result.
The men’s Athlete of the Year finalists comprise three athletes from the jumping disciplines who each leapt to glory at multiple major events this year.
The winners will be crowned at the Golden Tracks awards night, which takes place in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Saturday 24 October.
Men’s Athlete of the Year finalists
- Armand Duplantis (SWE)
- Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA)
- Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE)
Another year, another world record, another European title. And so it goes for pole vault superstar Mondo Duplantis.
In some ways, it was a challenging year. His unbeaten run of 40 meetings ended, Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis crept closer with a 6.20m clearance, and a leg injury forced his withdrawal from the Diamond League Final.
Yet he still emerged as the dominant force in his event, with his status as one of the era’s greatest athletes firmly intact.
He set a new world record of 6.31m at the eponymous Mondo Classic in February, retained his world indoor title in March, won his fourth successive European title at Birmingham 2026 and added the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships title to close the season.
If expectation surrounded Mondo, then it was surprise that greeted the re-emergence of Gianmarco Tamberi as the world’s foremost high jumper this summer. Injury had plagued the Tokyo Olympic gold medallist, who had not won a major title since the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships.
But against the odds and at the age of 34, he rose again. The charismatic Italian retained his title in Birmingham with 2.32m – his best jump in nearly two years. He went on to win at the World Athletics Ultimate Championships with a world-leading 2.37m.
Another established star trying to regain his place at the summit of his event was Miltiadis Tentoglou. Injury and illness afflicted the Greek long jumper in 2025, when he lost his world indoor and outdoor titles.
But in one of the sport’s most competitive events, he came roaring back to take his fourth European title, later adding the World Athletics Ultimate Championships title and setting a world lead of 8.66m.
2025 winner: Armand Duplantis (SWE)
