Euro Cross 2024: who, what and when information

Every little thing you must 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 town of Antalya set to host Europe’s best 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 obvious, with France behind in second place with 106 medals.

Final 12 months, the one British athletes to return with out a medal have 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 12 months, 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 12 months’s championships in Brussels because of damage however the Norwegian is returning this 12 months. 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 can have hopes for a double victory in each senior races as Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal will probably be seeking to safe a fourth consecutive ladies’s title. Nevertheless, she is going to face powerful 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 monitor 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 circumstances at this 12 months’s Euro trials in Liverpool, it’s throughout altering terrain from grime highway, 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 will probably be stay streamed right here whereas BBC can also be exhibiting the races on its crimson button with a highlights present on BBC2 at 4:05pm on Sunday.

Timetable (native occasions)
11:00 – U20 ladies (4814m)
11:29 – U20 males (4814m)
11:55 – Combined relay (6324m; 1 x 1710m; 2 x 1510m; 1x 1594m)
12:25 – U23 ladies (6324m)
13:00 – U23 males (6324m)
13:31 – Senior ladies (7834m)
14:11 – Senior males (7834m)

Senior ladies

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 exceptional 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 12 months 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 one in all solely three athletes to have received three consecutive titles, becoming a member of Turkey’s Yasemin Can, who reigned from 2016 to 2019 within the senior ladies’s class, and Ukraine’s Sergiy Lebid, a nine-time senior males’s champion.

However this 12 months, Grøvdal faces a severe problem from Battocletti, who has been virtually unstoppable recently. The under-23 Euro Cross winner in 2021 has had an unbelievable monitor season, successful the 5000m and 10,000m on the European Championships on residence 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 ladies match up in what guarantees to be an exhilarating showdown.

The British group additionally boasts potential podium contenders. Abbie Donnelly, who secured bronze final 12 months, will probably be seeking to construct on her breakthrough efficiency after incomes her first particular person medal on the championships.

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 12 months’s championships because of damage, 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 group by his older brother Filip, the 2018 European cross-country champion, together with final 12 months’s particular person silver medallist Magnus Tuv Myhre. Collectively, the trio might make a powerful bid for the group title.

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 12 months.

After successful the title for the primary time, he has since adopted it up with a silver medal on the European Championships in Rome this 12 months, 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 received under-20 gold in 2014 and 2015.

Crippa received particular person and group gold within the half-marathon on the European Championships this 12 months 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, can 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 successful a silver medal on the 2018 Euro Cross and a bronze medal within the 2022 version.

Additionally within the combine are British athletes Hugo Milner and Tomer Tarragano. Milner, whose No.1 sport is triathlon, impressed final 12 months by staying in competition with Schrub all through the race, settling for fourth place ultimately.

Though Milner seemed in sturdy kind on the Euro Trials earlier this month, he misplaced his title to Tarragano, who can 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 will probably be hoping to enhance on his twenty seventh place final 12 months after a powerful season.

GB group: Scott Beattie; Ellis Cross; Rory Leonard; Zak Mahamed; Hugo Milner; Tomer Tarragano

Underneath-23 ladies

With final 12 months’s winner, Megan Keith of Nice Britain, absent from this 12 months’s under-23 ladies’s race, the competitors is vast open, leaving the title up for grabs.

Main the sector 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 12 months with a fourth-place outcome. 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 12 months. Forero will probably 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 12 months, 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

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 12 months.

This time, Barnicoat is not going to need to cope with final 12 months’s runner-up, France’s Valentin Bresc. Nevertheless, that doesn’t imply the win will come simply. Barnicoat might want to preserve 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 will probably be simply his second race of the 12 months, after lacking final 12 months’s championships because 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 kind, the group will probably be aiming to retain their group gold they received final 12 months.

However the Brits will face sturdy competitors. Eire’s Nick Griggs, who lately set a parkrun “world file” of 13:44, is in glorious form and will probably be a risk. 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 last stretch as Barnicoat surged to victory.

Nick Griggs runs “parkrun world file” of 13:44

One other athlete to look at is Denmark’s Axel Vang Christensen, who claimed the under-20 title final 12 months and now strikes up an age class.

GB group: Will Barnicoat; Dafydd Jones; James Kingston; Peter Molloy; Brett Rushman; David Stone

Underneath-20 ladies

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 grow to be the fourth lady to win back-to-back titles for the reason that under-20 race grew to become an official medal occasion in 1997.

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 group.

The rostrum from final 12 months’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 looking 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 12 months, the place she completed simply behind FitzGerald in fifth, with FitzGerald fourth.

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 ladies’s race.

GB group: Jess Bailey; Innes FitzGerald; Zoe Gilbody; Isobelle Jones; Eleanor Strevens; Lizzie Wellsted

Underneath-20 males

Final 12 months in Brussels, after an impressive 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 will probably be hoping to emerge because the favorite on this 12 months’s course.

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 will probably be Sweden’s Karl Ottfalk, who was simply 17 when he completed fourth in Brussels final 12 months and has continued to smash his private bests throughout numerous distances this summer season. He additionally completed sixth within the 3000m last on the World Underneath-20 Championships.

For Nice Britain’s Henry Dover, he will probably be seeking to enhance final 12 months’s sixth place and a group silver medal. He lately received the under-20 race in Liverpool and can now have his eyes set on the rostrum.

Nice Britain can even be seeking to reclaim the group title they held for 3 consecutive years from 2019 to 2022 after Eire received it final 12 months.

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, can even be among the many key challengers within the aggressive subject.

GB group: Oliver Conway; George Couttie; Henry Dover; Quinn Miell-Ingram; William Rabjohns; Miles Waterworth

Combined relay

Within the temporary historical past of this occasion, Nice Britain is essentially the most profitable nation with three victories (Šamorín 2017, Lisbon 2019, Dublin 2021).

Nevertheless, final 12 months, 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 monitor 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 received the ladies’s trial.

GB group: Tyler Bilyard; Maddie Deadman; Joshua Lay; Elise Thorner

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