Russia’s queen of the Pole Vault Yelena Isinbayeva and Britain’s latest 400m star Martyn Rooney have been voted the European Athletes of the Month for July.
Isinbayeva had a dream month, setting world records number 22 and 23 with a 5.03m clearance in Rome on the 11th followed by a 5.04m clearance in Monaco on July 27, installing herself as a red-hot favourite to successfully defend her Olympic title in Beijing next week.
She added to this by having big wins in Stockholm 4.85m on July 22 and at the London Grand Prix four days later, where she cleared 4.93m and narrowly failed at a new world record height.
The 26-year-old is now well on her way to becoming one of the greatest athletes in history, such is her vast array of major titles already won and is closing in on the 35 world records set by her hero the Great Sergey Bubka.
Martyn Rooney on the other hand has been unbeaten all season and has now clearly established himself as the number one 400m runner in Europe.
On the back of his impressive victory at the SPAR European Cup in Annecy in June, the 21-year-old of Irish parentage, ducked under the elusive 45 second barrier on two occasions the first of which was in front of his delirious home fans at the London Grand Prix in Crystal Palace on July 26th with victory in 44.83.
He then improved further in Monaco two days later with a 44.72 victory for a European leading time to give himself a big confidence boost of at least making the final of the 400m in Beijing next week.
Also in July he easily won the British Olympic trials in Birmingham with a 45.31 run to bring his 2007 outdoor season tally to 9 victories from 9 races.
The runners-up in the women’s poll were Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic, Portugal’s Naide Gomes and Poland’s Anna Jesien while Russia’s Olympic 800m champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy, Poland’s Marek Plawgo and Belgium’s Monder Riski took the runners-up spots on the men’s side.
The European Athlete of the Month initiative was launched in January 2007 and is designed to recognise outstanding performers at all levels of the sport in Europe.
European Athletics will name a male and female winner each month and feature the athlete on the European Athletics website. Selections are based on votes by the public, the media and a panel of European Athletics experts with each counting for 33.3% of the final vote.
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