"Vlasic has become only the third woman to win the top European honour for a second time. Following in the footsteps of the other two-time winners, Yelena Isinbayeva and Carolina Kluft, the Croatian high jumper was voted as Europe"s top female athlete after a two year hiatus from the top spot," the European Athletics Association (EAA) reported on its web site on Thursday.

This year, British heptathlete Jessica Ennis was second on the list topped by the best Croatian athlete.

German sprinter Verena Sailer ranked third in the list compiled by selecting the top European athlete in each event, largely on the basis of performances at the European Athletics Championships, World Indoor Championships, European Athletics events and the series of Diamond League and European Athletics meetings.

"Fans, media and European Athletics Member Federations were invited to vote for the European Athlete of the Year on the European Athletics website. Along with the votes from a panel of experts, each group of voters' results count for one quarter of the athlete's final score," EAA said.

Recently, another Croatian athlete, the 20-year-old Sandra Perkovic, was voted women's Rising Star of the Year.

Perkovic won the women's European Athletics Rising Star of the Year Award after she became the youngest ever women"s European discus champion when claiming gold at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona.