Europe’s National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have voted Romanian fencer Amalia Covaliu and Estonian pole vaulter Allika Inkeri Moser as the joint winners of the 14th Summer Piotr Nurowski Prize at the 55th EOC General Assembly in Budapest.
Covaliu and Moser both received 26.53% of the votes from NOCs, and were presented with their awards as joint winners at the Gala Dinner following the first day of the EOC General Assembly.
This marks only the second time in the Piotr Nurowski Prize’s history that two athletes have shared the top honour, following German gymnast Darja Varfolomeev and Turkish swimmer Kuzey Tuncelli in the 12th Summer edition in 2023.
Covaliu enjoyed a stellar run of results in women’s sabre fencing, winning the U17 World Championships title in 2025 before claiming gold in the U20 European Championships team event the same year. She added individual silver at the U20 European Championships in 2026, having also reached the podium at the U17 European Championships in both 2023 and 2025.
Moser announced herself on the world stage at the 2025 European Youth Olympic Festival in Skopje, North Macedonia, where she set a world under-18 record of 4.52m to win gold in the pole vault. She followed that with a fourth-place finish at the U20 European Championships, and was nominated for the European Athletics Female Rising Star Award in September 2025.
In third place was Montenegrin taekwondo athlete Andrea Berišaj with 16.33% of the vote, ahead of Bulgarian tennis player Ivan Ivanov (14.29%), British gymnast Ruby Evans (12.24%) and Slovenian mountain biker Maruša Tereza Šerkezi (4.08%).
Six athletes were shortlisted for this year’s Summer edition of the Piotr Nurowski Prize instead of the usual five, in recognition of the exceptional quality of the candidates.
Each of the finalists win training scholarships to support their development.
This training scholarship will value €15,000 for Covaliu and Moser, €5,000 for Berišaj and €3,000 for Ivanov, Evans and Šerkezi both earning €3,000.
Order:
1. Ms Amalia Covaliu (ROU, Fencing)/Ms Allika Inkeri Moser (EST, Athletics)
3. Ms Andrea Berišaj (MNE, Taekwondo)
4. Mr Ivan Ivanov (BUL, Tennis)
5. Ms Ruby Evans (GBR, Artistic Gymnastics)
6. Ms Maruša Tereza Šerkezi (SLO, Cycling)
The Piotr Nurowski Prize
The Piotr Nurowski Prize was created by the EOC in 2010 to remember Olympic great Piotr Nurowski, the former President of the Polish Olympic Committee. Through his example and his memory, it encourages young athletes to pursue a career in top-class sport, as well as inspiring future generations to adopt a healthy lifestyle based on Olympic values and principles. It takes into account athletes’ performances at major events, and of equal importance is their conduct during competition and their engagement with Olympic culture, values and friendship.
The winners of the previous Piotr Nurowski Prize editions can be found here.
