Bulgaria’s rising stars compete for “Athlete of the Year” title

Eighteen athletes with medals from world, European, and Balkan championships in ten different sports will compete for the title “Athlete of the Year” for 2025 in Ruse, Bulgaria.

This was announced to BTA by the organizers of the traditional ranking — the local newspaper Utro and Ruse Municipality.

They specified that sports clubs had the opportunity to nominate their representatives until November 22, and now it is the turn of the city’s sports journalists to vote for their top ten. The award ceremony is scheduled for January 14, 2026, CE Report quotes BTA.

There are three boxers among the nominees — Radostlav Rosenov from the Ruse Boxing Club, bronze medalist at the men’s world championship and European champion for U23 athletes; his teammate Sevda Asenova, who finished fifth at this year’s women’s world championship; and Nicholas Nikolov from Lokomotiv, bronze medalist at the European school championship. There are also three weightlifters — Angel Rusev, European champion for men; Deniz Danev, runner-up at the European U23 championship; and Dzhan Zarkov, fifth at the European and sixth at the world U20 championships, and third at the Balkan men’s championship. All three represent the Ruse Weightlifting Club. Three nominations come from the trampoline club Image — Elena Mihaylova, Kaloyan Petrov, and Nikol Filipova.

Among the nominees from the local freestyle wrestling club Yunak are Yuliana Yaneva, silver medalist at the women’s world championship, and Bilyana Dudova, bronze medalist at the women’s European championship in Slovakia and fifth at the world championship in Croatia. Two football players from league-leading Dunav (Second Division) are also nominated — captain Kamen Hadzhiev and Radostlav Apostolov, who is one of the team’s main goal scorers.

Other nominees include Valentin Andonov from the rowing club Lokomotiv, Damyan Iliev from the Lokomotiv–Toncho Todorov shooting club, Elitsa Stelianova from the Shin Kyokushin karate club Ruse, Ivan Banchev from the archery club Jumbo, and Katerina Kiseva from the jiu-jitsu club Dinamo.

Four coaches have been nominated for “Coach of the Year” in Ruse. They include Dunav Ruse football coach Georgi Chilkov; Radostlav Atanasov, national coach and personal coach of the medalists from the Ruse Weightlifting Club; Stanislav Stoyanov, national selector and coach of the medalists from the trampoline club Image; and Sabi Sabev, personal coach of the boxing medalists Radostlav Rosenov and Sevda Asenova.

At the ceremony on January 14, an “applier of the year” award will also be presented. Three nominees from the local sports model club Prista are in the running — Eleonora Pavlova, Velizar Vladev, and Magdalena Tsoleva.