Athletes touring the course, love the huge stallion! photo by Paul Halford
The start of the Euro Cross course, photo by Paul Halford
Th finish line for 2017 Euro Cross Champs, photo by Paul Halford
Paul Halford is in Samorin, Slovakia, covering the European Cross Country Champs. Here is his preview.
The president of European Athletics, Svein Arne Hansen, had every reason to be happy on the eve of the biggest international cross-country championships in the world.
Not only is tomorrow’s event due to be the biggest ever, but the Norwegian will watch a great team from his home country, which is undergoing a distance-running revolution at present.
Seventeen-year-old phenomenon Jakob Ingebrigtsen will defend his under-20 title, while fellow Norwegian Karoline Grovdal is among the favourites for the senior women’s race. Along with Sondre Moen, who became the first European to run below 2:06 for a marathon last weekend, and world 1500m bronze medallist Filip Ingebrigtsen, who was a late withdrawal from this event due to injury, the Scandinavians are showing they can compete with the best in the world.
Sitting in the athletes’ hotel right next to the course in Samorin, Slovakia, that will host tomorrow’s event for the more than 500 athletes from 37 nations, Hansen encouraged European athletes to be fearless when taking on the Africans.
He was responding to a comment that few European nations nowadays send large teams to the World Cross Country Championships, an event which is struggling to live up to its past glories and the success currently enjoyed by the Euro Cross.
“No, because it’s dominated by the East Africans and I can understand that,” he said. “We have some Norwegians running fantastic. Sondre Moen – he lives in Kenya in a straw hut, he goes to bed eight o’clock every night. He is living just like the Kenyans. The same with the Ingebrigtsen brothers. They know if they’re going to beat the Kenyans and the Ethiopians and the others they have to train like them and they’re doing that.”
Should they be less afraid of the Africans, he was asked? “Yes – it’s too easy here in Europe,” he said. He referred to great British athletes of the past Steve Ovett, Seb Coe and Brendan Foster. “These guys put in a hell of a lot in the cross, it was a big part of the preparation,” he said. “I was with Steve one time – it must have been 1980 – I couldn’t believe the conditions they were running in England. It was a mud race, it was not cross country.”
Those conditions are a far cry from what will be experienced by the athletes in Samorin. The course is flat and fast with a couple of man-made obstacles. The surface was a little damp this morning but is not expected to cut up too much. That may not please everyone, but most in attendance agree the compactness of the facilities is a big plus. The X-Bionic Sphere complex, which houses the 1500m course, is right next to the athletes’ hotel and is home to Slovakia’s Olympic Training Center, which is just 20km from the capital Bratislava and serves 27 sports.
“I can say honestly I have never been in such a fantastic location for the European Championships,” said Hansen. “I am so impressed by this location where everything is under one roof and that is very important.”
The president also enthused about the inaugural mixed 4x1500m relay that will conclude the programme. “We are really excited that 11 teams will take part tomorrow,” he said. “We have learned from skiing, we have learned from biathlon. It’s a great event. I am very proud that we are doing it here in Samorin.”
Aside from the mixed relay, athletes will compete at senior, under-23 and under-20 level. Grovdal ought to face tough opposition from defending champion Yasemin Can of Turkey and Sweden’s 2014 bronze medallist Meraf Bahta, as well as former junior winner Emelia Gorecka of Britain.
In the senior men’s race, last year’s one-two, Aras Kaya and Polat Arikan of Turkey, will challenge again, alongside 2015 winner Ali Kaya of Turkey. Ben Connor and Andy Butchart lead the challenge for last year’s team champions, Great Britain.
Konstanze Konsterhalfen will be difficult to beat in the under-23 race. The German has won gold in the junior category the last two years and has had her best-ever season, clocking 9:13.35 for the 3000m steeplechase, 3:58.92 for the 1500m and 1:59.65 for the 800m.
The day before the event she said: “The under-23s is a new challenge. I’m looking forward to it, but it won’t be easy.” She is among the more versatile athletes in Samorin, but asked about which event she will look towards next year, she said: “I like really like each event, but we are still focusing on 1500m. We will see what the future will bring.”
