Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis named athletes of the year

World Championship medallists Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis have been named athletes of the year for the second year in succession by the British Athletics Writers' Association.

World 5,000m champion Farah took the men's award for the third time, while Ennis clinched the women's title for the third year in succession.

Ennis won by just two votes from world 1,500m runner-up Hannah England.

Farah said: "I would like to thank all the writers who followed my journey."

The 28-year-old has made made vast improvements since moving with his family to Oregon at the beginning of the year to be coached by Alberto Salazar.

However, the award for Farah comes after an unforgettable year for the Somali-born athlete after he ended the year successfully to win silver in the 10,000m in Daegu, adding to his 5,000m gold.

In similar fashion, London 2012 gold medal hopeful Ennis also impressed at the World Championships and, despite losing her world title to Russia's Tatyana Chernova, won the silver medal in the heptahlon.

Ennis added: "The heptathlon is not the easiest discipline to follow and the athletics writers really help the public follow my progress."