Femke Bol and Sifan Hassan nominated for European athlete of the year award

Femke Bol and Sifan Hassan are contenders for the European Athlete of the Year award. The two high-level Dutch athletes are among the ten nominees who can be voted for online, the European Athletic Association reported.

Hassan was voted European Athlete of the Year in 2021. Bol has been chosen as the best European Athlete for the last two years and could become the first woman to win the award three times. The winner will be announced on October 26 during an event in Skopje, North Macedonia.

Bol won a lot of medals and broke many records this year. She won two gold medals at the World Championships indoor in Glasgow and also broke the 400-meter world record (49.17). She also won two gold medals at the European Championships outdoors in Rome and three medals at the Olympic Games in Paris: gold in the 4x400 meter mixed, silver in the 4x400 meter women, and bronze in the 400-meter hurdles. She ended the season with a win in the Diamond League.

Hassan combined the track distances of 5,000 and 10,000 meters with the marathon in Paris, which was considered impossible physically before the event. She also added an extra shine to that unique trilogy with bronze in the marathon's 5,000 and 10,000 meters and gold in the marathon.

Other nominees for the award include Belgian Nafissatou Thiam (Olympic heptathlon champion), Ukrainian Yaroslava Mayouch (Olympic high jump champion) and British Keely Hodgkinson (Olympic 800 meters champion).

No male Dutch athletes were included in the list of nominees. Niels Laros and Jarno van Daalen are among the European Talent of the Year nominees.