Nadia Battocletti fulfilled her goal of becoming a European champion on three different surfaces after an impressive victory over 10km in Leuven, Belgium (April 13).
The Italian, who turned 25 yesterday, ran a national record of 31:10 and beat Germany’s Eva Dietrich by 15 seconds at the European Running Championships.
With major wins on the track and over cross-country last season – Battocletti won European 5000m/10,000m titles on home soil and also topped the podium at the European Cross Country Championships – all she needed was a road title to complete the ‘triple’.
The distance runner, who also claimed an Olympic 10,000m silver medal in Paris last summer, was one of the favourites in Leuven.
Victory was by no means guaranteed however, with Slovakia’s Klara Lukan boasting a 10km best of 30:29, a mark she set in Castellón, Spain two months ago.
Women’s 10km podium (Getty)
Battocletti and Lukan unsurprisingly started well and went through 5km in 15:32, with Italy’s Sofiia Yaremchuk only a second behind at the half-way stage.
As the trio twisted their way through the narrow and windy Belgian streets, Battocletti started to get into her rhythm and broke away from the pair around the 7km mark, establishing a gap of around five seconds.
Towards the latter stages of the race, both Lukan and Yaremchuk dropped back and were overtaken by an inspired Dietrich.
Dietrich clocked 31:25 and edged out Lukan by one second for the silver medal. Portugal’s Mariana Machado was unlucky to miss out on a podium spot and ran 31:30 for fourth.
Nadia Battocletti (Getty)
“This is the best (belated) birthday present I could have wished for,” Battocletti said afterwards. “It was my coach [Giuliano Battocletti] yelling at me around the 7km point that I needed to push. I saw that my competitors could not keep up with me. I kept pushing on every hill and also in the descent to be sure of the title.
“The course was not easy as you can see from the times. I now have four titles in less than a year so that’s incredible. I was a little afraid of the Belgian weather but today it was the best weather for road running.
“The Italian team was great today. It was so cool to celebrate together. My next goal is probably the ASICS 5k in Tokyo so I can experiment with traveling for the World Championships in September and then some Diamond League races.”
Beth Potter (Bill Scriven)
The leading Brit in the field was Verity Ockenden, who placed 11th with 32:11. Beth Potter, who secured an Olympic bronze medal in both the individual and mixed relay triathlon last summer, clocked 32:16.
European individual under-23 cross-country champion Phoebe Anderson was 31st with 32:52, Amelia Quirk was one place behind in 32:55, Sarah Astin finished 36th with 33:02 and Jenny Nesbitt was 47th in 33:30.
In the team standings, Italy took home gold, Germany secured silver and France claimed the bronze medal.
Yann Schrub (European Athletics)
Yann Schrub, who became European senior individual cross-country champion in Brussels two years ago, continued his love affair with Belgium by securing a famous 10km win in Leuven.
The 29-year-old clocked 27:37 in what was a French 1-2, with Schrub’s compatriot and former European 10km record-holder Etienne Daguinos second in 27:46.
Home favourite Isaac Kimeli stayed with both French athletes for the majority of the race – the trio went through 5km in 13:50 – and, even though he dropped off late on, still ran 27:58 and completed the podium.
Dominic Lobalu was one of the standout names in the men’s 10km field at the European Running Championships but he pulled out of the race with a few kilometres to go.
Dominic Lobalu (Getty)
The European 10,000m champion and 5000m bronze medallist was part of the leading pack through 5km but stopped later on during the event. The Swiss athlete was forced to pull out of the inaugural Grand Slam Track meeting in Kingston due to a thigh strain, which also hampered his preparations for Leuven.
The headlines were however dominated by Schrub, who is back to work first thing tomorrow morning in a hospital.
“I felt strong mentally today because my legs were great during training,” Schrub said afterwards. “I don’t like to show off my trainings on Strava, I prefer to keep it confidential. I was ready for that type of race. During my last competition I raced Jimmy Gressier and it showed me that I could have a good finish.
“Today one acceleration was sufficient for me to make the gap with the rest of the field. With 200m to the finish, I knew that I had even more in store and that’s a great confidence booster for my upcoming races.
“It’s my fourth European medal so I am more than delighted. The gold medal in the 10.000m is the one that is missing so to get that would be a full circle moment for myself. Now, I will take off five days of training but I have already to go back to work at the hospital tomorrow morning. I hope that my colleagues tuned in today!”
Rory Leonard (Valencia 10km)
There was a strong British cohort in the 10km at the European Running Championships and the leading male in the field was Ellis Cross, who clocked 28:30 for 12th in Leuven. British 10km record-holder Rory Leonard placed 14th in 28:33, Charlie Wheeler was 21st in 28:40 and Alfie Manthorpe ran 29:09 for 33rd.
In the team standings, France secured gold, Spain claimed silver and Belgium completed the podium.
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