Every thing that you must know in regards to the European Cross Nation Champs in Antalya on Sunday December 8
The thirtieth version of the European Cross Nation Championships will happen in Turkey this weekend, with the town of Antalya set to host Europe’s most interesting runners for the primary time.
Nice Britain enters the championships with an unmatched legacy, having claimed a powerful 188 medals because the occasion first began in 1994. Their dominance is obvious, with France behind in second place with 106 medals.
Final yr, the one British athletes to return and not using a medal have been the senior males’s workforce, one thing they are going to be keen to alter this time round.
Reigning champions Innes FitzGerald and Will Barnicoat are again to defend their titles. FitzGerald, who took the ladies’s under-20 crown final yr, and Barnicoat, who triumphed within the males’s under-23 race, will each be eyeing one other victory on the Antalya course.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen missed final yr’s championships in Brussels resulting from harm however the Norwegian is returning this yr. The 24-year-old, a four-time winner of the under-20 title between 2016 and 2019, clinched the senior males’s title in 2021 and 2022.
Norway may have hopes for a double victory in each senior races as Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal will probably be seeking to safe a fourth consecutive girls’s title. Nonetheless, she’s going to face robust competitors from Italy’s Nadia Battocletti.
Within the under-20 males’s race, Niels Laros of the Netherlands will probably be a standout contender after his spectacular observe season and will probably be hoping to cap off his junior profession with a gold medal.
Whereas the course in Antalya is anticipated to be far drier than the boggy situations at this yr’s Euro trials in Liverpool, it’s throughout altering terrain from grime highway, grass, mud and sand. The climate is anticipated to be comparatively gentle, with an opportunity of rain including a component of unpredictability.
Kate Axford and Tomer Tarragano take Euro trials victory in Liverpool
The occasion will probably be reside streamed right here whereas BBC can also be exhibiting the races on its purple button with a highlights present on BBC2 at 4:05pm on Sunday.
Timetable (native occasions)
11:00 – U20 girls (4814m)
11:29 – U20 males (4814m)
11:55 – Blended relay (6324m; 1 x 1710m; 2 x 1510m; 1x 1594m)
12:25 – U23 girls (6324m)
13:00 – U23 males (6324m)
13:31 – Senior girls (7834m)
14:11 – Senior males (7834m)
Karoline Grovdal leads Abbie Donnelly in Brussels (Getty)
Senior girls
Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal isn’t any stranger to success on the championships. Having claimed the under-20 title again in 2009, the Norwegian has since captured senior victories in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The 34-year-old’s outstanding profession is highlighted by a record-breaking 10 particular person medals on the Euro Cross in addition to breaking Ingrid Kristiansen’s long-standing nationwide 5000m report by six seconds in 2021 with 14:31.07.
Final yr in Brussels, Grøvdal stormed forward of Italy’s Nadia Battocletti with a decisive transfer on an uphill part of the ultimate lap. She completed 45 seconds forward of Battocletti, securing her tenth European Cross medal total.
She is certainly one of solely three athletes to have gained three consecutive titles, becoming a member of Turkey’s Yasemin Can, who reigned from 2016 to 2019 within the senior girls’s class, and Ukraine’s Sergiy Lebid, a nine-time senior males’s champion.
Nadia Battocletti (Getty)
However this yr, Grøvdal faces a critical problem from Battocletti, who has been virtually unstoppable currently. The under-23 Euro Cross winner in 2021 has had an unimaginable observe season, profitable the 5000m and 10,000m on the European Championships on dwelling soil in Rome as she ended her season with an Olympic silver medal within the 10,000m.
As Grøvdal goals for a fourth consecutive title, will probably be entertaining to see how the 2 girls match up in what guarantees to be an exhilarating showdown.
The British workforce additionally boasts potential podium contenders. Abbie Donnelly, who secured bronze final yr, will probably be seeking to construct on her breakthrough efficiency after incomes her first particular person medal on the championships.
Kate Axford and Abbie Donnelly (Gary Mitchell)
Kate Axford, who triumphed over Donnelly on the Euro Trials, is one other British athlete to look at as she makes her GB vest debut.
GB workforce: Kate Axford; Abbie Donnelly; Izzy Fry; Jess Gibbon; Cari Hughes; Poppy Tank
Senior males
After lacking final yr’s championships resulting from harm, Olympic 5000m gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen is aiming for his third senior cross nation title and his seventh particular person gold medal total.
Ingebrigtsen will probably be joined on the Norwegian workforce by his older brother Filip, the 2018 European cross-country champion, together with final yr’s particular person silver medallist Magnus Tuv Myhre. Collectively, the trio might make a powerful bid for the workforce title.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Mark Shearman)
The competitors continues to be fierce as France’s Yann Schrub will probably be seeking to make his mark as soon as once more after claiming victory within the senior males’s race final yr.
After profitable the title for the primary time, he has since adopted it up with a silver medal on the European Championships in Rome this yr, ending behind Dominic Lobalu within the males’s 10,000m.
One other reigning European champion is Yeman Crippa who will probably be making his twelfth successive look on the European Cross – he gained under-20 gold in 2014 and 2015.
Crippa gained particular person and workforce gold within the half-marathon on the European Championships this yr earlier than competing within the marathon on the Olympic Video games.
Robin Hendrix, who completed third on the rostrum in Brussels and helped Belgium safe workforce gold, will even be one other contender. Isaac Kimeli, who was born in Kenya however moved to Belgium when he was 15, will probably be one other title to look at after profitable a silver medal on the 2018 Euro Cross and a bronze medal within the 2022 version.
Liverpool Cross Problem males’s leaders (Gary Mitchell)
Additionally within the combine are British athletes Hugo Milner and Tomer Tarragano. Milner, whose No.1 sport is triathlon, impressed final yr by staying in competition with Schrub all through the race, settling for fourth place in the long run.
Though Milner regarded in sturdy kind on the Euro Trials earlier this month, he misplaced his title to Tarragano, who will even be making the journey to Turkey.
Absent from trials was Zak Mahamed. The under-23 silver medallist in 2023 was given a discretionary place on the workforce and will probably be hoping to enhance on his twenty seventh place final yr after a powerful season.
GB workforce: Scott Beattie; Ellis Cross; Rory Leonard; Zak Mahamed; Hugo Milner; Tomer Tarragano
Underneath-23 girls
With final yr’s winner, Megan Keith of Nice Britain, absent from this yr’s under-23 girls’s race, the competitors is vast open, leaving the title up for grabs.
Main the sphere is Finland’s Ilona Mononen, who claimed silver behind Keith in 2023. At simply 20 years previous, Mononen has had a powerful 2024 season, setting a nationwide report of 9:23.28 within the 3000m steeplechase on the European Championships. She additionally made her Olympic debut in Paris, competing within the 3000m steeplechase heats.
The absence of Keith additionally presents a big alternative for Spain’s Angela Viciosa, who narrowly missed a podium end final yr with a fourth-place consequence. Viciosa will probably be wanting to safe her first main worldwide medal.
One other contender is Maria Forero, the 2022 under-20 champion, who earned silver within the European under-23 5000m race behind Keith final yr. Forero will probably be aiming to enhance on that efficiency and break into the highest spots as soon as once more.
The British workforce will function some newcomers to the European scene. Amongst these returning to the occasion are Tia Wilson, who completed thirty fourth within the under-23 race final yr, and Phoebe Anderson, who positioned seventeenth within the under-20 race again in 2021.
GB workforce: Phoebe Anderson; Poppy Craig-McFeely; Megan Gadsby; Mia Waldmann; Kate Willis; Tia Wilson
Will Barnicoat (Getty)
Underneath-23 males
In earlier years, British athletes have dominated the under-23 males’s race, with Charles Hicks claiming the title in 2021 and 2022 and Will Barnicoat upgrading his 2022 under-20 gold to a under-23 victory final yr.
This time, Barnicoat won’t should cope with final yr’s runner-up, France’s Valentin Bresc. Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply the win will come simply. Barnicoat might want to hold a detailed eye on his personal GB team-mate, David Stone, who defeated him on the Euro trials in Liverpool.
For Stone, the Euro Cross will probably be simply his second race of the yr, after lacking final yr’s championships resulting from an harm that required two surgical procedures. His final full aggressive season was in 2019 as a promising teen.
With each Barnicoat and Stone in sturdy kind, the workforce will probably be aiming to retain their workforce gold they gained final yr.
Nick Griggs (Getty)
However the Brits will face sturdy competitors. Eire’s Nick Griggs, who lately set a parkrun “world report” of 13:44, is in glorious form and will probably be a menace. Barnicoat and Griggs have gone head-to-head earlier than, with Griggs in competition for under-20 gold in 2022, solely to stumble within the closing stretch as Barnicoat surged to victory.
Nick Griggs runs “parkrun world report” of 13:44
One other athlete to look at is Denmark’s Axel Vang Christensen, who claimed the under-20 title final yr and now strikes up an age class.
GB workforce: Will Barnicoat; Dafydd Jones; James Kingston; Peter Molloy; Brett Rushman; David Stone
Underneath-20 girls
Nice Britain’s Innes FitzGerald, the reigning European under-20 cross-country champion, produced a dominant 19-second victory in Brussels 12 months in the past and will probably be aiming to develop into the fourth girl to win back-to-back titles because the under-20 race turned an official medal occasion in 1997.
Innes FitzGerald (Gary Mitchell)
The 18-year-old lately secured a convincing win on the Euro trials, ending 31 seconds forward of Jess Bailey, who positioned eighth in Brussels and also will be a part of the British workforce.
The rostrum from final yr’s championships will probably be reunited in Antalya, with Denmark’s Sofia Thøgersen and France’s Jade Le Corre, who completed second and third respectively in 2023, set to problem FitzGerald as soon as once more.
Thøgersen, the 2022 European under-18 3000m champion, continues to be in quest of her first under-20 continental title after incomes silver within the 1500m and bronze within the 5000m within the 2023 European Underneath-20 Championships.
She additionally missed out on a podium place on the World Underneath-20 Championships in Lima this yr, the place she completed simply behind FitzGerald in fifth, with FitzGerald fourth.
Sofia Thøgersen (centre) with Jess Bailey (proper) and Edibe Yagiz (Getty)
With FitzGerald and Bailey on the workforce, Nice Britain would be the workforce to beat, making them the favourites for the workforce title. In the event that they safe gold, will probably be their record-extending 18th workforce title within the under-20 girls’s race.
GB workforce: Jess Bailey; Innes FitzGerald; Zoe Gilbody; Isobelle Jones; Eleanor Strevens; Lizzie Wellsted
Underneath-20 males
Final yr in Brussels, after an excellent double on the European Underneath-20 Championships, Dutch athlete Niels Laros discovered himself narrowly outsprinted by 2021 champion Axel Vang Christensen. With Christensen now transferring up an age group, Laros will probably be hoping to emerge because the favorite on this yr’s course.
Niels Laros (Getty)
Laros’ 2024 season has been distinctive, highlighted by a European under-20 1500m report of three:29.56, which earned him sixth place within the Olympic closing in Paris. He additionally set a world under-20 and European under-23 report 1000m report of two:14.37 in Hengelo.
One other to look at will probably be Sweden’s Karl Ottfalk, who was simply 17 when he completed fourth in Brussels final yr and has continued to smash his private bests throughout varied distances this summer time. He additionally completed sixth within the 3000m closing on the World Underneath-20 Championships.
For Nice Britain’s Henry Dover, he will probably be seeking to enhance final yr’s sixth place and a workforce silver medal. He lately gained the under-20 race in Liverpool and can now have his eyes set on the rostrum.
Nice Britain will even be seeking to reclaim the workforce title they held for 3 consecutive years from 2019 to 2022 after Eire gained it final yr.
Henry Dover (Gary Mitchell)
Czech’s Filip Toul and Serbia’s Aldin Catovic, who every took gold within the 1500m and 3000m respectively on the European Underneath-18 Championships this July, will even be among the many key challengers within the aggressive discipline.
GB workforce: Oliver Conway; George Couttie; Henry Dover; Quinn Miell-Ingram; William Rabjohns; Miles Waterworth
Blended relay
Within the transient historical past of this occasion, Nice Britain is probably the most profitable nation with three victories (Šamorín 2017, Lisbon 2019, Dublin 2021).
Nonetheless, final yr, France and the Netherlands each hunted down Nice Britain within the closing straight as France grabbed their first ever victory on this occasion.
The French workforce consists of Antoine Senard, the one returning member of their gold medal-winning workforce, however their strongest runner based mostly on observe performances is Agathe Guillemot who completed ninth within the Olympic 1500m closing.
Josh Lay, who ran the opening leg in Brussels when Britain settled for bronze, will return alongside Maddie Deadman who gained the ladies’s trial.
GB workforce: Tyler Bilyard; Maddie Deadman; Joshua Lay; Elise Thorner
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