Daisy Jepkemei wins in Atapuerca (© Ricardo Ordóñez)
A strong field will be in action when the Cross Internacional de Atapuerca returns near the northern Spanish city of Burgos as one of three World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meetings taking place on Sunday (23).
Italy’s Nadia Battocletti makes her cross-country season debut, following a successful track campaign that included two medals at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 – 10,000m silver and 5000m bronze. The Olympic 10,000m silver medallist is also an accomplished cross-country runner and she made history last year as the first woman to collect individual gold medals in the U20, U23 and senior categories at the European Cross Country Championships.
She makes her fourth appearance in Atapuerca and will be eager to build on her 14th place in 2019, 12th place in 2021 and sixth place in 2022.
Battocletti’s stiffest opposition should come from the in-form Ethiopian Likina Amebaw and last year’s winner, Daisy Jepkemei of Kazakhstan. The former has already claimed two wins this season as she triumphed in Amorebieta and Soria, but she had to settle for third at the Itálica event where she was pipped by Jepkemei in the closing stages, in a fight for the runner-up place.
Amebaw’s best performance in Atapuerca came in 2023 when she took fourth place, just ahead of Britain’s Megan Keith. The world 10,000m 10th-place finisher won the European U23 cross-country title in Brussels two years ago by a record margin and she opened her cross-country campaign a fortnight ago in Cardiff, where she finished fourth. She was 20 seconds behind the runner-up on that occasion, Kenya’s Sheila Jebet, who is also among the contenders in Atapuerca following her second place behind Amebaw in Soria last weekend.
Burundi’s Micheline Niyomahoro completes the international line-up, while the local challenge will be led by European U23 3000m steeplechase silver medallist Marta Serrano, national 10km record-holder Carla Gallardo, Isabel Barreiro, Angela Viciosa and Carolina Robles.
The men’s race offers a Soria rematch as Kenya’s Mathew Kipsang and Burundi’s Rodrigue Kwizera will clash again after their thrilling battle last Sunday, when the Kenyan won after a dramatic sprint finish.
It won’t be an easy task for Kwizera to retain his title as the event distance has reduced from 9km to 7.3km for men and women and that would seem to play in favour of the world 5000m 11th-place finisher Kipsang, who was third in Atapuerca last year.
Watch out too for the Spanish pair of Thierry Ndikumwenayo and Said Mechaal. Ndikumwenayo is rapidly rounding into form and he finished just three seconds behind Kipsang in Soria, while Mechaal will try to replicate the form he demonstrated on the roads last month, when he took third place at the Paris 20km.
Kenya’s Naibei Kiplimo Mayebei and the Burundian pair of Emile Hafashimana and Celestin Ndikumana will also be chasing top five finishes.
Sunday’s races will also serve as the national cross country championships. Weather forecasters predict a windy and cold day with temperatures between 4-6ºC by the time of the event.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics
Kipruto and Shimket defend Cinque Mulini crowns
Matthew Kipruto and Yenenesh Shimket will defend their Cinque Mulini titles when the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting is held in San Vittore Olona on Sunday (23).
Kenya’s Kipruto, the world U20 cross-country bronze medallist, will return to Italy one week on from finishing third in the Cross Country Tour Gold race over 8km in Soria.
This time his competition in the 8.2km contest will include home star Iliass Aouani, who claimed marathon bronze at the World Championships in Tokyo, and his Italian compatriots Pietro Arese and Osama Zoghlami.
When he discovered that the last Italian winner of the men’s race was Alberto Cova in 1986, Aouani told organisers: “I'm coming to win.”
Joining them on the start line will be Eritrea’s Saymon Amanuel, who finished fourth last year in San Vittore Olona, and Ethiopia’s Adehena Kasaye, a two-time world cross-country relay silver medallist.
Ethiopia’s Shimket leads the field for the women’s 6.2km race. Last year she clinched victory ahead of Sheila Jebet and home favourite Nadia Battocletti, but this time both Jebet and Olympic and world 10,000m silver medallist Battocletti have decided to race at the Cross Country Tour Gold event in Atapuerca taking place on the same day.
Instead, Shimket will face Burundi’s Elvanie Nimbona, who finished fourth at the Cinque Mulini last year, and Kenya’s Sharon Chepkemoi. Italian athletes in action include Micol Majori and Gaia Colli.
Schrub and Trapp return to Allonnes
Multiple European medallist Yann Schrub and Manon Trapp will be among the home hopes at the Cross International Le Maine Libre-Allonnes-Sarthe – a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting – on Sunday (23).
Schrub, the 2023 European cross-country champion, will look to follow in the footsteps of his French compatriot Jimmy Gressier, who won last year in Allonnes and returns this year to support the event, rather than race. Schrub opens his cross-country campaign in Allonnes as he races for the first time since finishing ninth in the 5000m at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25. He placed seventh in Allonnes last year, and was runner-up in 2023.
He will go up against Ethiopia’s Milkesa Fikadu and Abrha Gebru, who respectively finished third and fourth last year, as well as last year’s fifth-place finisher Vincent Kimaiyo of Kenya. John Aimun, who beat his compatriot Kimaiyo to claim 10km victory in Lille last weekend, is also among the contenders.
Joining Schrub in racing on home soil are Hugo Hay and Fabien Palcau, who finished fifth behind Aimun and Kimaiyo in Lille.
The senior women's race features Trapp, who finished third in Allonnes last year – one place ahead of Kazakhstan’s 2022 world steeplechase champion Norah Jeruto. The pair clash again on Sunday.
Trapp contested the marathon at the World Championships in Tokyo, while Jeruto placed sixth in the steeplechase. Last year’s Cross International Le Maine Libre-Allonnes-Sarthe was Jeruto’s first cross-country appearance since 2021 and she returns to open her season again in Allonnes.
They will face Kaoutar Farkoussi, who formed part of Morocco’s silver medal-winning mixed relay team at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships, and Kenya’s Alice Chemtai Loitasia, as well as France’s Alessia Zarbo, Agathe Guillemot, Marie Bouchard and national marathon record-holder Mekdes Woldu.
