Beatrice Chebet wins the senior women's race in Bathurst (© Steve Christo)
Kenyan women have won the past eight senior women’s titles and it’s difficult to look past the mighty East African nation heading into the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Belgrade 24.
As a measure of their quality, world cross-country champion Beatrice Chebet was beaten into fourth place at the recent Kenyan Cross Country Championships. Chebet may have been doing just enough to ensure her place on the team, but the three women who finished ahead of her will all have medal ambitions in the Serbian capital.
It’s rare for Chebet to come away from a major championships empty-handed. As well as winning gold in Bathurst last year, she was also victorious over 5km at the World Road Running Championships in Riga. Meanwhile, on the track in recent years she has earned silver and bronze medals over 5000m at the World Championships, plus gold at the same distance at the Commonwealth Games and African Championships.
Put simply: if there are medals on the line, Chebet will be in the mix.
But compatriot Agnes Ngetich heads to Belgrade full of confidence too. Bronze medallist in Bathurst last year, Ngetich went on to place sixth in the 10,000m at the World Championships in Budapest. She then started 2024 in incredible form, smashing the world 10km record with a stunning run of 28:46 in Valencia, having passed through 5km in 14:13, equalling Chebet’s world record for that distance.
More recently, Ngetich won the highly competitive Kenyan Cross Country Championships, winning by three seconds from Emmaculate Anyango, who will also be one to watch in Belgrade.
Anyango has made great strides in recent months. After reducing her 10km PB to 30:01 in Lille in November last year, she chopped more than a minute off that time when finishing second to Ngetich in Valencia in January, clocking 28:57 – making her the second-fastest woman in history for the distance.
The Kenyan team also features Lilian Kasait Rengeruk and Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi, both of whom took silver medals – over 5km and the half marathon respectively – at the World Road Running Championships last year. Cintia Chepngeno rounds out the team and she’ll be looking to make amends for her DNF in Bathurst last year.
It’s not inconceivable that Kenya could replicate their perfect 1-2-3-4-5-6 finish from the 2017 World Cross, but if anyone stands to disrupt a Kenyan sweep, then look to the Ethiopian squad.
Girmawit Gebrzihair won Ethiopia’s national trial race. The 2018 African U20 cross-country champion, who has a half marathon PB of 1:04:14, will be competing at her first major championships as a senior.
Compatriot Tadelech Bekele, the two-time Amsterdam Marathon champion, last represented Ethiopia back in 2014 at the African Cross Country Championships. She has competed sparingly in recent years, but it's difficult to ignore a 2:21:40 marathon performer.
Others on the Ethiopian team include marathon specialist Sisay Meseret Gola, and teenagers Bertukan Welde and Mebrat Gidey.
Uganda’s Rachael Zena Chebet has been the best non-Kenyan/Ethiopian performer at the World Cross in the past decade, having finished fourth in 2019. The 27-year-old won the Ugandan cross-country title by 25 seconds and will be keen to lead her team to another medal, having earned team bronze in 2019.
Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal has dominated cross-country running in Europe in recent years. After four successive bronze medals at the European Cross, then silver in 2019, the Norwegian has won the past three senior women’s titles.
Her last appearance at the World Cross was back in 2010 when she was just 19. But her performances on the track in recent years – including her eighth-place finish over 5000m at the 2022 World Championships – shows that she’s capable of mixing it with the world’s best.
Burundi’s Francine Niyomukunzi has performed well on the World Cross Country Tour this year, winning in San Giorgio Su Legnano back in January. She followed that with a national 10km record of 30:42 in Valencia. The 24-year-old looks set to improve on her 74th-place finish from the 2019 World Cross.
Others to look out for include US cross-country champion Weini Kelati, world 10,000m eight-place finisher Jessica Warner-Judd of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, and Anjelina Nadai Lohalith of the Athlete Refugee Team.
Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda have shared the team medals at the past two editions, and this year's race looks likely to go the same way. If any other nation could challenge for a team medal, perhaps look to the USA, Great Britain, South Africa, Canada or Spain.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
