Cyclist Mathieu van der Poel and runner Sifan Hassan have won this year’s sports man and woman of the year awards.

Neither Hassan or Van der Poel were at the ceremony in Amsterdam on Wednesday night as both are currently training abroad.

In October Hassan became the first woman in athletics history to win gold medals in both the 10,000 metres and the 1,500 metres at the World Athletics championships.

Van der Poel, a cyclo-cross and road racer, has booked a string of victories across both events this year. In particular, he was the first Dutch winner of the Amstel Gold Race in Limburg since 2001.

The team title went to the women’s handball team, fresh from their world title victory in Japan last weekend.