The Spike d’Or awards ceremony, honouring Belgium’s top athletes of the year, took place in Mechelen on Saturday, with heptathlete Nafi Thiam and marathon runner Bashir Abdi winning the top titles.
Thiam secured her third consecutive Olympic title in Paris this summer after clinching her third European title in Rome earlier in June.
The 30-year-old from Namur had previously won her first nine “golden spikes” consecutively between 2013 and 2022.
Last year, when Thiam opting for a summer break to rest her Achilles tendons, the award went to sprinter Cynthia Bolingo.
Abdi, aged 35, claimed his second Olympic medal in 2024 by finishing second on the Paris podium. It marks Abdi’s fifth consecutive Spike d’Or award.
The European marathon record holder was chosen over Alexander Doom, the double indoor world champion in the 400m and 4x400m, and European 400m champion.
Doom also broke the Belgian record for the 400m this year, a record set in 2012.
