Spain's Carolina Robles wins at the Cross Internacional de Venta de Banos (© Asociacion ADOC)
Spain's Carolina Robles and Nassim Hassaous captured victories at the Cross Internacional de Venta de Banos, the 12th Gold level meeting of this season’s World Athletics Cross Country Tour, on Sunday (15).
In doing so, both confirmed their fine form and took their first ever wins at a Gold level event on a cold and foggy day.
Following the last minute withdrawal of Portugal’s Mariana Machado, the 33-year-old Robles became the favourite in the women’s 9.3km contest. The race kicked off at a moderate rhythm, the opening 1km small lap taking 3:39. By then the leading quartet featured steeplechaser Robles, Carla Gallardo, Cristina Ruiz and Angela Viciosa, who finished fourth in the U23 race at last year’s European Cross Country Championships. Surprisingly, Maria Forero, fresh from an U23 silver medal at the recent European Championships in Antalya, had already lost any chance of a podium place and travelled a way back from that quartet.
The first big 2.2km lap was covered in 7:38, with the Tokyo Olympics 14th-place finisher Robles taking on the pacing duties closely followed by her three compatriots. The key move came some 13 minutes into the race when Robles decided to pick up the pace to become a lonesome leader. The Seville-born athlete built a solid 11-second gap on Gallardo and Ruiz, who were two seconds ahead of a faltering Viciosa, and Robles had killed the race thanks to a 7:24 circuit.
Robles continued to increase her lead over the penultimate loop, taking it to 24 seconds over the chasing duo at the bell following a 7:33 circuit.
The virtual winner slowed her speed a little over the closing lap, which took her 7:36, but she still ran home unopposed in 33:56. The fight for the runner-up spot was exciting as Ruiz only overtook Gallardo over the last 200m.
“I had never thought of winning a Gold event,” said Robles. “Today was a great opportunity and I took advantage, I’m really pleased to take the victory in this prestigious event. Last weekend I was aiming for a top eight place at the Europeans but I had to settle for 16th, so today is a minor revenge from that.”
On her ambitions for the 2025 season, Robles added: “I ran my last 3000m steeplechase race at the Paris Olympics. My plan now is to tackle the road events – 10km and half marathon – and make the Spanish team for the European and World Championships. I would like to compete at the Tokyo World Championships over 5000m or 10,000m.”
Guerra carves out race, Hassaous prevails
The men's 9.3km event also opened at a moderate pace as the first small lap was timed at 3:08. Portugal’s Rui Pinto was at the helm, closely followed by the Eritrean teenager Amanuel Berhe, the in-form Hassaous, Aaron Las Heras and the evergreen Javier Guerra, among others. With the clock reading six minutes it was Guerra who took command of the race, his closest pursuers being Berhe, Hassaous and Las Heras who ran in crocodile file behind the two-time European Championships marathon fourth-place finisher.
After a 6:42 first 2.2km lap, Guerra’s relentless rhythm whittled down the main pack to four athletes. The second circuit took a similar 6:41 time and it was then that Las Heras, the 2019 European U20 5000m champion, moved to the front and ruled the race for a mile before Guerra regained top spot during the closing stages of the penultimate lap. That lap was covered in a faster 6:34, with four athletes still in contention.
The 30-year-old Hassaous, fresh from seventh place at the European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, made his move some 1.4km from home to open a sizeable five-second gap in a matter of 300 metres to decide the race in his favour. Meanwhile, Guerra and Berhe were fighting hard for the runner-up place as Las Heras lost some 15 metres and seemed to be out of podium contention.
The closing 300 metres over the ash track proved thrilling as the 24-year-old Las Heras managed to catch Guerra and Behre to clinch second place, while Guerra pipped Behre to complete the podium.
“I’m super happy as my name is now among an incredible list of past winners here,” said Hassaous. “As I had expected, Guerra set the pace. I had not felt the best until midway, but then I felt much more comfortable. I felt strong at the bell and decided to attack shortly afterwards.”
Despite his recent seventh place in Antalya, Hassaous plans to build up for longer distances. “I made my half marathon debut in Valencia last October (1:01:48) and would like to improve on that over the following seasons,” he added.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics
Leading results
Women
1 Carolina Robles (ESP) 33:56
2 Cristina Ruiz (ESP) 34:11
3 Carla Gallardo (ESP) 34:19
4 Angela Viciosa (ESP) 34:50
5 Blanca Fernandez (ESP) 35:10
Men
1 Nassim Hassaous (ESP) 29:38
2 Aaron Las Heras (ESP) 29:45
3 Javier Guerra (ESP) 29:46
4 Amanuel Berhe (ERI) 29:53
5 Younes Kniya (MAR) 30:01
