Klishina (pictured) collected a gold medal at the Ostrava 2011 European Athletics Under-23 Championships with an opening leap of 7.05 metres.

The jump put her in second spot on the world lists behind American Britney Reese's 7.19m, establishing her as one of the favourites for the World Championships when they open in Daegu next week.

The 20-year-old also finished on the podium at the Diamond League meetings in Birmingham and Monaco.

Arslan laid claim to owning the title of the continent's best ever mountain runner when he took an incredible fifth successive European Mountain Running Championships gold medal on home turf in Bursa-Uludag.

For their memorable performances during the month of July, they have been voted as European Athletes of the Month after thousands of athletics fans from across Europe cast their votes.

Selections are based on votes by the public, media and a panel of European Athletics experts – each counting for 33.3 per cent of the final vote.

French sprint sensation Christophe Lemaitre, who ran a brilliant 9.92sec national record for the 100 metres at the National Championships in Albi and a European-leading 20.21 for second place behind Usain Bolt at the Diamond League meeting in Paris, had to settle for second spot in the men's poll.

Norwegian javelin superstar Andreas Thorkildsen, who won every competition he entered and closed the month with a world leading throw of 88.43m at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm, was voted third.

Berlin 2009 high jump silver medallist Anna Chicherova of Russia jumped a world season leading and national record 2.07m at the national championships in Cheboksary and was voted second in the women's poll.

She was ahead of Bulgarian sprint star Ivet Lalova who became the first European female sprinter to go sub-11 seconds in six years after she won the women's 100m in 10.96 at the 64th Balkan Athletics Championships in Sliven, Bulgaria.

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