Senior women's preview: Who will succeed Augusto in Velenje? | 07.12.2011
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| In the absence of defending champion and compatriot Jessica Augusto, Portugal's Ana Dulce Felix will be a very strong contender to win the senior women's title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Velenje on Sunday. |
Among the favourites to succeed Augusto, who is still recovering from her outing at the ING New York City Marathon last month, are the three women who finished immediately behind her in Albufeira, Portugal, 12 months ago.
Turkey's Binniz Uslu and Portugal's Ana Dulce Félix and Ireland's Fionnualla Britton - second, third and fourth respectively in 2010 - have all been in good enough form this winter to suggest that they can get among the medals and maybe finish in front.
Uslu won the junior women's title in 2004, the under 23 gold medal two years later, both on heavy courses, and so will fancy her chances of becoming the first man or woman to complete a hat trick at the Championships and win individual titles in all three age groups.
Now 26, Uslu showed her prowess on the track during the summer when she set a Turkish 3000m steeplechase record of 9:24.06 in the heats at the IAAF World Championships, before finishing seventh in the final
However, if she is to strike gold, she will have to perform slightly better in Velenje than she did at the European Athletics Cross Country Permit Race in Tilburg, The Netherlands, on 27 November when she could only finish fourth.
Félix will go to Velenje with her confidence sky high after a series of good runs last month. She was the first European home in fourth place at the ING New York City Marathon, crossing the line in a personal best of 2:25:40 on 6 November, and then a winner on home soil at the 22nd Cross da Amora two weeks later.
Britton, the 2006 SPAR European Cross Country Championships under 23 silver medallist, finished an impressive third in a high quality international field at the Cross de l´Acier in the French town of Leffrinckoucke on 27 November, a European Athletics Cross Country Permit Race, to also stake her claim as a medal contender.
However, the women's race is very open, with a number of other excellent candidates for the medals.
High on many people's list as a potential medallist is the Morocco-born Italian runner Nadia Ejjafini, who was an emphatic winner by 32 seconds at the 28th Cross Internacional Valle de Llodio in Spain on 27 November, which was also a European Athletics Cross Country Permit Race.
The Dutch runner Adriënne Herzog, the 2009 bronze medallist, demonstrated she is back in form with a good win in Tilburg and enjoys running on more testing circuits while France's Sophie Duarte will be looking be the first French women to get an individual medal in any category since 2007.
“Anything is possible, from first to the fifteenth place. I remain cautious and a competition like this depends on many parameters. On the day, a course may or may not suit you but I still remain confident,” said Duarte last week, almost certainly echoing the thoughts of many of the other leading runners.
Last month, Duarte won the high quality Cross du Maine Libre in France, and also finished second in the Cross Sud Ouest, showing that the French 3000m steeplechase record holder has fully recovered from her foot injury in the summer which prevented her from going to the World Championships.
There are also a number of well-known runners who bookmakers might consider to be outsiders but could still have the ability to rise to the occasion.
UK Trials winner Hatti Dean was seventh in 2010, as well as eighth in 2008, and could be in the form to finish even higher this year.
Germany's team has Simret Restle-Apel and marathoner Sabrina Mockenhaupt, the 2005 SPAR European Cross Country Championships silver medallist, who finished second and third respectively behind Herzog in Tilburg.
Romania's Ancuta Bobocel is, like Uslu, a former junior and under 23 winner, and is concentrating again on these Championships after giving them a miss last year to focus on the indoor season.
Bobocel also has a talented team mate, Roxana Barca, who was fifth in in the under 23 race last year.
There will also be a lot of interest in how Serbia's Olivera Jevtic performs in Velenje.
Jevtic, now 34, has the most individual medals of any women's in the history of the Championships having finished third on no less than five occasions between 1997 and 2006.
One of those bronze medals came in 1999, when Velenje staged the SPAR European cross country championships for the first time, and so Jevtic has the experience of what is required to get on the podium in the Slovenian city.
She has also finished in the top 10 on nine out of the 10 occasions she has run in the Championships and so will want maintain this formidable record.
There will also be plenty of cheers for the reigning Slovenian cross country champion Sonja Roman, who won a 1500m bronze medal at the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
Roman's most recent international honours have been on the track but she first came to attention as a cross country runner, getting top 10 finishes in the 1997 and 1998 SPAR European Cross Country Championships junior women's races.
Turning attention to the team medals, Portugal has won the senior women's team title for the last three years and is the favourite once more.
Three of last year's squad will represent Portugal again: the 2010 individual bronze medallist Félix, international stalwart Ana Dias - who is set to contest her 12th SPAR European Cross Country Championships - and Anália Rosa.
In addition, Portugal also has the in-form Leonor Carneiro in their team. She beat the best of her compatriots to win the Torres Vedras race on 20 November and then finished second in Llodio, behind Ejjafini, a week later.
The British women are targeting a team medal to match or better the silver medals they have won for each of the last four years.
In addition to Dean, they have the likes of Freya Murrey and Gemma Steel who also have ambitions of finishing in the top 10.
The remaining six nations to send teams are relatively evenly matched although the contest for the third place on the podium might, like last year, come down to a duel between Spain and France.
