Every thing it is advisable to know concerning 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 formidable 188 medals for the reason that occasion first began in 1994. Their dominance is clear, with France behind in second place with 106 medals.
Final yr, the one British athletes to return with no medal had been the senior males’s group, one thing they are going to be keen to vary 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 as a consequence of damage 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 could have hopes for a double victory in each senior races as Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal can be seeking to safe a fourth consecutive girls’s title. Nevertheless, she’s going to face powerful competitors from Italy’s Nadia Battocletti.
Within the under-20 males’s race, Niels Laros of the Netherlands can be a standout contender after his spectacular observe season and can 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 circumstances at this yr’s Euro trials in Liverpool, it’s throughout altering terrain from dust street, grass, mud and sand. The climate is anticipated to be comparatively delicate, with an opportunity of rain including a component of unpredictability.
Kate Axford and Tomer Tarragano take Euro trials victory in Liverpool
The occasion can be stay streamed right here whereas BBC can be displaying the races on its pink button with a highlights present on BBC2 at 4:05pm on Sunday.
Timetable (native instances)
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 is not 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 file 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 general.
She is one among 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 house 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, it is going to be entertaining to see how the 2 girls match up in what guarantees to be an exhilarating showdown.
The British group additionally boasts potential podium contenders. Abbie Donnelly, who secured bronze final yr, can 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 group: Kate Axford; Abbie Donnelly; Izzy Fry; Jess Gibbon; Cari Hughes; Poppy Tank
Senior males
After lacking final yr’s championships as a consequence of damage, Olympic 5000m gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen is aiming for his third senior cross nation title and his seventh particular person gold medal general.
Ingebrigtsen can be joined on the Norwegian group 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 robust bid for the group title.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Mark Shearman)
The competitors continues to be fierce as France’s Yann Schrub can 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 can be making his twelfth successive look on the European Cross – he gained under-20 gold in 2014 and 2015.
Crippa gained particular person and group 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 group gold, will even be one other contender. Isaac Kimeli, who was born in Kenya however moved to Belgium when he was 15, can 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 rivalry with Schrub all through the race, settling for fourth place ultimately.
Though Milner regarded in sturdy type 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 group and can be hoping to enhance on his twenty seventh place final yr after a robust season.
GB group: 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 extensive 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 outdated, Mononen has had a formidable 2024 season, setting a nationwide file 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 end result. Viciosa can be desperate 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 can be aiming to enhance on that efficiency and break into the highest spots as soon as once more.
The British group will characteristic 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 group: 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 is not going to should deal with final yr’s runner-up, France’s Valentin Bresc. Nevertheless, that doesn’t imply the win will come simply. Barnicoat might want to maintain an in depth eye on his personal GB team-mate, David Stone, who defeated him on the Euro trials in Liverpool.
For Stone, the Euro Cross can be simply his second race of the yr, after lacking final yr’s championships as a consequence of an damage that required two surgical procedures. His final full aggressive season was in 2019 as a promising teenager.
With each Barnicoat and Stone in sturdy type, the group can be aiming to retain their group gold they gained final yr.
Nick Griggs (Getty)
However the Brits will face sturdy competitors. Eire’s Nick Griggs, who not too long ago set a parkrun “world file” of 13:44, is in wonderful form and can be a menace. Barnicoat and Griggs have gone head-to-head earlier than, with Griggs in rivalry for under-20 gold in 2022, solely to stumble within the last stretch as Barnicoat surged to victory.
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 group: 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 can be aiming to develop into the fourth girl to win back-to-back titles for the reason that under-20 race turned an official medal occasion in 1997.
Innes FitzGerald (Gary Mitchell)
The 18-year-old not too long ago 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 group.
The rostrum from final yr’s championships can 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 the hunt for 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 group, Nice Britain would be the group to beat, making them the favourites for the group title. In the event that they safe gold, it is going to be their record-extending 18th group title within the under-20 girls’s race.
GB group: 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 shifting up an age group, Laros can 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 file of three:29.56, which earned him sixth place within the Olympic last in Paris. He additionally set a world under-20 and European under-23 file 1000m file of two:14.37 in Hengelo.
One other to look at can 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 last on the World Underneath-20 Championships.
For Nice Britain’s Henry Dover, he can be seeking to enhance final yr’s sixth place and a group silver medal. He not too long ago 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 group 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 area.
GB group: 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).
Nevertheless, 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 group contains Antoine Senard, the one returning member of their gold medal-winning group, however their strongest runner primarily based on observe performances is Agathe Guillemot who completed ninth within the Olympic 1500m last.
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 group: Tyler Bilyard; Maddie Deadman; Joshua Lay; Elise Thorner
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