European Cross Country Championships – Preview

Medulin, close to the Adriatic resort of Pula in the Istria region of Croatia is in athletics terms at least a relatively unknown quantity, and as such a most appropriate venue for this Sunday’s 9th SPAR European Cross Country Championships (8 December 2002).

Any major pre-Christmas cross country meeting tends to be a venture into the unknown with athletes barely back into full training after their post-summer break but seeking a marker as to how they are progressing towards the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in March. The fact that the meeting is on a new course adds yet more mystery and intrigue to the quest for valued medals.

Senior Men

All that is certain is that there will be new gold medallists in at least three of the four races. The only defending champion in the start lists is Sergiy Lebid of Ukraine, who won the Senior Men’s title in Thun, Switzerland, 12 months ago after years of success in these championships that fluctuate between deep mud and frosty firmness. He took the bronze medal in a Portuguese quagmire at Oeiras in 1997, won his first gold on a freezing, foggy morning in Ferrara, Italy, in 1998; and added a Silver medal on a tricky, slippery course in Malmo, Sweden, in 2000. Lebid carried his medal-winning form into the summer by finishing third in the 5000m at the European Championships in Munich.

His chief rival in the 9830m race around eight laps in Pula could be Paolo Guerra (Portugal), the 12km bronze medallist when the IAAF World Cross Country Championships were held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1999, and the most be-medalled athletes in the short history of European Cross Country Championships. He won the first two titles at Alnwick in the north of England in 1994, 1995; finished second on an extremely muddy course in Charleroi, Belgium in 1996; and returned to winning ways in both 1999 in Velenje, Slovenia, and 2000 in Malmo, Sweden.

The other former champion in contention is Britain's Jon Brown, the run-away winner in 1996 and bronze medallist in 1999, who finished fourth in the marathon at the 2000 Olympic Games. He has come into this race by an unusual route. After being forced to drop out of the New York City Marathon in early November with a calf injury, he decided to “use that fitness” after the current UK cross country champion, Sam Haughian, had to withdraw with a hip injury that has troubled him since before the summer’s European track Championships.

The last time Brown made the long journey from his home in Vancouver, Canada, to the European Cross Country Championships, he led Britain to the team gold medals in 1999. It is doubtful whether he can repeat this feat this time; but Portugal will be optimistic of carrying off the title for the first time since they hosted the Championships in 1997. Guerra has experienced and able support including Domingos Castro, the 1994 Silver medallist who was also fifth in 1999 and Eduardo Henriques, who was second in 1999 and who has shown good recent form finishing fifth - the first non-African - in the IAAF Cross Country permit meeting in Llodio on 24 November.

But each team needs to count four finishers, and Spain look determined to retain the title which they won in Thun with 40 points, ahead of France (50) and Portugal (72). In the Spain team for a course that will reputedly suit track speedsters are Jose Manuel Martinez, the European 10,000m Champion who ran well with the Kenyans to finish third last weekend in Alcobendas, and Fabián Roncero, Spanish record holder at 10,000m (27:14.44) half marathon (59:52) and marathon (2h07:23), plus Alejandro Gomez, the 1995 silver medallist in European Cross Country Championships.

Others seeking a return to the podium are 1997 silver medallist Claes Nyberg (Sweden), Kamiel Maase (Netherlands) who was second in 2001, and the 1996 bronze medallist Mustapha Essaid (France).

Senior Women

The Senior Women’s 6170m race (5 laps of the course) features only one of last year’s individual medallists, 22-year-old Olga Romanova (RUS), who was second in Thun. Portugal’s defending team champions Portugal are again led by Helena Sampaio, who finished sixth in Thun, and Analidia Torre, the individual Silver medallist in 2000. The 1999 Champion Anita Weyermann (SWI) makes a welcome return to the start list on her 25th birthday, while Liz Yelling (GBR), who was the childhood training partner of the IAF World Female Athlete of the Year Paula Radcliffe, has hopes of reaching the podium after finishing fourth in 1999, eighth in 2000 and fifth last year.

If the course is as welcoming to track athletes as reported, they will all have to beware the speed of Poland’s Lidia Chojecka, who was fifth in the 1500m at last year’s IAAF World Championships in Edmonton, Canada.

This race also features no fewer than four former Junior Champions – Alejandra Aguilar (Spain, 1996), Inês Monteiro (Portugal, 1997), Sonja Stolic (Yugoslavia, 1998) and Elvan Abeylegesse (Turkey), who led home the Under 20s in Thun and finished seventh among the Seniors in the 5000m at the European Championships in Munich this summer. Considering the European AA only introduced Junior races to these Championships in 1997 (as a small experiment), they can count the presence of these names as a strong indication that the policy is working.

If further justification was needed the Junior Men’s title holder, Vasyl Matviychuk (Ukraine) will line-up alongside Lebid in the Senior Men’s race.

Junior Men

Entries for Sunday’s Junior Men’s 6170m race include the two other medallists from Thun, Britain’s Mohamed Farah (silver) and Stefano Scaini of Italy (bronze), who finished only one second behind the Briton after 6150m. Scaini may consider this is his chance of revenge considering Farah’s place has only been confirmed after a return from a long spell of injury, which prevented him racing in either the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Dublin in March or the IAAF World Junior Championships in Kingston during the summer.

That said, Farah (who won the European Juniors 5000m title in 2001) is determined to not only improve by one place but also to lead his team’s defence of the team title, which was won last year with 54 points, from Portugal (67) and France (68). Britain also field Tom Sharland, who was the leading European athlete to finish the Junior Men’s race at the World Championships in Dublin.

Spain could mount a medals challenge. They field their 10,000m finalists from the World Junior Championships, Javier Guerra and Noel Cutillas, who won the European Junior 5000m bronze medal behind Farah 18 months ago.

Other formidable entries include Mounir Yemmouni (France), Europe’s fastest Junior over 1500m this year.

Junior Women

The 98 entries for the Junior Women’s 3720m include the first six Europeans at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Dublin in March: Snezana Kostic (Yugoslavia) who was the European bronze medallist in Thun 12 months ago; Galina Ignatyeva (Russia), Volha Minina (Belarus), Gwendoline Despres (France), Adrienne Herzog (Netherlands) and Charlotte Dale (Britain).

In Russia’s attempts to retain the team title, Ignatyeva will be supported by two other top 40 finishers from the Dublin race, Galina Yegorova and Marina Ivanova, plus Tatiana Petrova, who was fourth in the 3000m and sixth in the 5000m at this summer’s IAAF World Junior Championships.

By an IAAF Correspondent