European Athletics announced the nominations via Twitter, highlighting the achievements of Patrícia Mamona which include the silver medal in Tokyo2020, in addition to the European indoor title and being second on the 2021 world list with 15.01 metres.

Mamona is up for the womens prize against several Olympic champions, including Dutch Sifan Hassan, double Olympic champion (5,000 and 10,000 metres), the Belgian Nafissatou Thiam and the German Malaika Mihambo, among others.

In the men's, Pichardo will be one of the favourites to win the award, with the association highlighting his Olympic triple jump title, the first for Portugal since Nelson Évora in Beijing2008, alongside being the European indoor champion, the Diamond league champion and a world leader at 17.98 metres.

Pichardo is up against other champions from Tokyo2020, such as the Norwegians Jakob Ingebritsen and Karsten Warholm, the Swedes Daniel Stahl and Armand Duplantis, the Italian Marcell Jacobs,.

Voting for the award closes on 3 October and can be completed by simply retweeting the post representing your favourite athlete.