by Stuart Weir
European Cross Country Champs
Many of Europe’s top distance runners participated in Sunday’s European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, Turkey.
The men’s senior race was won by Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway) from Yemaneberham Crippa (Italy), with Thierry Ndikumwenayo (Spain) third. Ingebrigtsen’s time for the 7832m course was 22:16, with Crippa eight seconds behind.
Crippa made the early running alongside Great Britain’s Hugo Milner – fourth last year in Brussels – with Ingebrigtsen content to keep a watching brief in third in a large lead pack. On the penultimate fourth lap, Ingebrigtsen decided to go to the front and raise the tempo. Only Crippa tried to go with him. From that point, there was only ever going to be one winner. The peerless Norwegian gradually went through his impressive set of gears, and the Roma 2024 half marathon champion Crippa had to settle in for silver. Just four months after his Olympic 5000m triumph, Jakob returned to the winner’s enclosure.
Jakob said afterward: “Cross country is something that I really enjoy. It’s very different from my other competitions; there’s something special and exciting about around 100 people going for the first turn at the starting line. There’s a lot of fighting and pushing and shoving; there’s a lot of things that could happen. The course was very challenging, tactical, and technical. It’s all about using the energy wisely and trying to maneuver”.
Nadia Battocletti (Italy) won the women’s senior, with Konstanze Klosterhalfen (Germany) second and Yasemin Can for the host nation. Battocletti’s addition of the cross-country title to her 5k and 10k victories at the 2024 European (track) championships was a clean sweep.
The European Athletics website states, “The University of Trento student, who completed an engineering exam on Thursday, again answered all the questions posed to her on Sunday.”
Battocletti commented: “I was thinking before the race that it would be tough. I ran in Alcobendas (in Spain) two weeks ago, where the course is different and more technical. It’s tougher than here. So, it was a good test.”
She added gold to Italy’s first-ever senior women’s team: “We made history. I’m so proud of the girls. We have run together since childhood, so we know each other quite well.”
Other results
Senior Men Team Spain
Senior Women Team Italy
Men U20 Individual Niels Laros (Netherlands)
Men U20 Team Norway
Women U20 Individual Innes Fitzgerald (GB)
Women U20 Team Great Britain
Men U23 Individual Will Barnicoat (GB)
Men U23 Team Great Britain
Women U23 Individual Phoebe Anderson (GB)
Women U23 Team Great Britain
Mixed Relay Italy
Great Britain topped the medal table with 12 (six gold) from Italy 5, Spain, and Norway 3.
