Megan Keith leads the Cardiff Cross Challenge (© Paul Stillman)
Two World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meetings take place this weekend – the Cardiff Cross Challenge on Saturday (8) and the Cross Internacional de Italica in Santiponce on the outskirts of Seville on Sunday (9).
The Cardiff event will welcome athletes from Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, Morocco and Spain to Llandaff Fields.
The men’s race features world 5000m finalist Mathew Kipsang and his Kenyan compatriot Stephen Kimutai, who returns to the Welsh capital after finishing fifth at the Oysho Cardiff Half Marathon in October in 1:01:32.
Victor Kimosop is another promising young Kenyan athlete in action after he won the Betika Cross Country Series meeting last month.
They will be joined by Morocco’s 17-year-old Osama Er Redouani, who was seventh at last year’s World U20 Championships over 3000m and competed at the 2024 World Cross Country Championships.
Ethiopia’s Kadar Omar is a regular racer in South Wales and is a previous winner of the Cardiff Half Marathon, while Jesse Fokkenrood and Nathan Houwaard will be in action for the Netherlands. Fokkenrood finished 13th in Cardiff last year.
Irish cross-country champion Keelan Kilrehill adds further strength to the field, as does Great Britain’s Zakariya Mahamed who has twice finished runner-up on the course and scored a notable victory at the Northern Ireland International in 2022.
Welsh 5km record-holder Osian Perrin and Dafydd Jones lead Welsh hopes.
Great Britain’s world 10,000m 10th-place finisher Megan Keith is back in Cardiff looking to regain a title she claimed in 2023. She followed that victory by becoming the European U23 cross country champion in Brussels.
Kate Axford was the leading British finisher last year, placing third, and she also returns, as does Kenya’s 2024 runner-up Sheila Jebet, this time as a winner of the Cross Cup De Hannut – another Cross Country Tour Gold event – in January.
Her 17-year-old compatriot Cynthia Chepkirui hopes to take a step towards January’s World Athletics Cross Country Championships Tallahassee 26 when she races in Cardiff.
Their competition will include Canada’s 3000m steeplechase record-holder Ceili McCabe, who won the NCAA indoor 3000m title earlier this year, and Denmark’s Sofia Thogersen, the multiple European age-group track medallist who competes in Cardiff for the third time.
Maria Urena of Spain and Ireland’s Mary Mulhare also form part of the international entry list.
Welsh hopes lie with Cari Hughes, who was fourth last year. Other British entries include Amelia Quirk, Holly Dixon, Poppy Tank, Jess Gibbon and Hannah Irwin.
The mile races return for 2025, incorporating the Great Britain trial for the mixed relay at the European Cross Country Championships in Portugal. Entries include Revee Walcott-Nolan, Sarah Calvert, Abbie Ives, Sarah McDonald, Holly Dixon, Will Barnicoat, Callum Elson, Joe Wigfield, Henry Jonas and Corentin Tixier.
European U20 cross country champion Innes FitzGerald headlines the U20 races, joined by William Rabjohns who was an U20 winner in Cardiff last year.
Alex Donald for World Athletics
Yavi and Kwizera in action in Seville
The Cross Internacional de Italica always attracts a quality line-up and this year’s race features the most prominent field so far this season.
Entries for the women’s race, contested over 9.2km, are headed by the in-form Ethiopian Likina Amebaw who has improved her PBs over a range of distances this year and kicked off her cross-country campaign with a win at the Amorebieta meeting three weeks ago.
Yet the most decorated woman in contention will be Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi. Despite racing cross country sparingly, the Olympic 3000m steeplechase champion should be among the athletes hunting for a podium place.
Maurine Jebor tops Kenya’s list of entries, following her win at the recent national trials for the World Cross Country Championships. She will be joined by Celestine Jepkorir who is fresh from a comfortable victory at the San Sebastian Silver Cross Country Tour meeting on Sunday.
Watch out too for Kazakhstan’s Daisy Jepkemei, the runner-up in Seville last year who placed sixth at the 2024 World Cross Country Championships.
Mariana Machado will also be in action as she prepares for next month’s European Cross Country Championships in her native Portugal. Norway’s Kristin Eikrem, fresh from a half marathon PB of 1:10:32 in Valencia a fortnight ago, will also try to get a top-five spot.
The local charge will be led by the promising duo of Marta Serrano and Maria Forero.
The men’s event will also be held over 9.2km and promises to be a thrilling clash between training partners Rodrigue Kwizera of Burundi and Spain’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo. Kwizera is a two-time Cross Country Tour winner and has a proven record at the Italica meeting having placed first (2021), second (2022), third (2023) and runner-up again last year, when he was beaten by Ndikumwenayo, who also succeeded in 2022.
Both athletes live and train in Castellon under the guidance of Lluis Torla. Kwizera finished second at the recent Valencia Half Marathon in national record of 58:39, while world 10,000m ninth-place finisher Ndikumwenayo is still rounding into form as he spent October in his native Burundi where her wife gave birth to their first daughter. He returned to action at the Castellon cross country race last Sunday, pushing Kwizera to the line before settling for second place.
There will be a large Kenyan squad comprising Denis Kipkoech Kemboi, Robert Koech, Edwin Kiplangat, Naibei Kiplimo, Titus Kibet and Andrew Alamisi. Kemboi, Koech and Kiplangat finished third, sixth and seventh respectively at the Kenyan trials for World Cross Country Championships, while Kibet got the win last weekend in San Sebastian where Kiplimo took third and Kiplangat fourth.
Tunisia’s 3000m steeplechaser Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui, who was fourth at the Paris Olympics, is also in action along with Burundi’s Egide Ntakarutimana and Emile Hafashimana, who opened his cross country season with a victory in Amorebieta last month.
Joining Ndikumwenayo are other Spanish hopes Aaron Las Heras and Dani Arce, plus Olympic and world 800m finalist Mohamed Attaoui who will take advantage of his high mileage at this early stage of the season to make a rare appearance over 9.2km.
Weather forecasters predict a sunny day with temperatures in the 18-20ºC range by the time of the elite races on Sunday.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics
