SPAR European Cross Country Championships

Jakob Ingebrigtsen might have been the youngest competitor in the senior men&rsquo;s race by two years but the scintillating Norwegian glided to gold at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Fingal-Dublin on Sunday (12).
Ingebrigtsen would have been eligible for the U23 race - and he remains so next year as well when the championships take place in Turin - but the Olympic 1500m champion stepped up both in age-group and in distance at the Sport Ireland Campus to win his sixth European senior title at the age of 21.
The distance of 10km might be slightly beyond Ingebrigtsen&rsquo;s speciality but he never looked under considerable pressure or out of his comfort zone against what was arguably the finest ever men&rsquo;s field assembled at the European Cross Country Championships. The line-up included the three individual medallists from 2019 as well as Jimmy Gressier who was also making his senior debut.
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Reigning two-time champion Aras Kaya from Turkey set an unrelenting pace on a muddy and rutted course and by the end of the second large lap of 1500 metres, the Kenyan-born reigning champion had already whittled the group down to four contenders. Ingebrigtsen and Gressier both kept pace with Kaya along with Yemaneberhan Crippa from Italy.
Kaya&rsquo;s attritional tactics would eventually pay dividends. After looking anxiously over his shoulder, Crippa suddenly came to a halt before grasping his stomach on the penultimate lap and then Gressier started to cede ground on the leading pair just before the bell chimed to signal the last lap.
But Ingebrigtsen showed no discernible signs of fatigue and he ominously loomed onto Kaya&rsquo;s shoulder before nonchalantly moving past the reigning champion with just under one kilometre to go.
The gap opened up gradually at first but Ingebrigtsen&rsquo;s raking stride took him to a clear-cut victory in the end. He broke the tape in front of a sizable and knowledgeable crowd in 30:15 to win by just under 100 metres from Kaya (30:29) and Gressier (30:34) and add senior gold to his four U20 titles between 2016 and 2019.
&ldquo;It felt really good but I have to admit 10K is not the best distance for me. At the same time we do a lot of similar training to these sorts of races in our normal weeks, but you are always thinking about the worst case scenario.&nbsp;
&ldquo;There is a lot of mud here, it is a tough race, a long race with a lot of good competitors this year,&rdquo; said Ingebrigtsen who also acknowledged the role of the crowd just over four months after landing Olympic gold in a near-deserted stadium in Tokyo.
&ldquo;The crowd was crazy and they really helped us, so I&acute;m really happy there were lots of spectators here today!&rdquo;
Kaya had to relinquish his title to Ingebrigtsen but the Turk was happy to make the podium again after a rather nondescript season. He has now made the podium in four of the last five editions of the European Cross Country Championships with silver this year accompanying his bronze from 2018 and his gold medals from 2016 and 2019.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I knew I had to lead from the front - that was my plan - both Jakob, Yemen and Jimmy are very strong so I need to come out strong and neutralise the field. Someone had to get the pace going. Although I came out here as the reigning champion overall, I am very happy with my result,&rdquo; he said graciously.
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Gressier came home safe in the bronze medal and he led home a French contingent who packed excellently. With Hugo Hay fourth and Yann Schrub sixth, the French team came away with the senior men&rsquo;s team title.
 Incredibly this was Gressier and Hay's sixth successive team gold medal at the European Cross Country Championships after winning U20 team gold in 2015 and 2016 as well as three team and individual U23 titles between 2017 and 2019.
Reflecting on his individual performance, Gressier said: &ldquo;It is difficult to beat Jakob these days, he is truly the best in the world - even in cross country he is undefeatable - so I can only focus on improving, so I stand a chance of beating him at some point. In the meantime, it&rsquo;s a real pleasure to race next to a true champion like him.&rdquo;
Behind France with 13 points, Spain took the team silver medal with 30 points while Norway were third with 47 points, packing just ahead of hosts Ireland who finished with 51 points and whose charge was led by Brian Fay in tenth.

Unstoppable Ingebrigtsen glides to gold on his senior debut in Dublin

The last five editions of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships have seen Norway&rsquo;s Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal on the podium each time, but after four bronze medals and a silver, the latter two years ago in Lisbon, she finally struck gold in Fingal-Dublin on Sunday.
Into the bargain it was a winning return to the city where she won the U20 title 12 years ago in 2009, the last time Ireland staged these championships, and she made it a Norwegian double victory after Jakob Ingebrigtsen was victorious in the senior men&rsquo;s race a little earlier in the afternoon.
The race started with Sweden&rsquo;s Meraf Bahta and Germany&rsquo;s Konstanze Klosterhalfen going straight to the fronbt and pushing the pace but they were soon joined by Turkey&rsquo;s four-time defending champion Yasemin Can, Bahta&rsquo;s compatriot and 2019 bronze medallist Samwarit Mengsteab, Israel&rsquo;s Selamawit Teferi, as well as briefly France&acute;s Mekdes Woldu.
Woldu soon lost contact with the leading group, but the five forged ahead and were together two kilometres into the race with Grovdal and Great Britain&rsquo;s Jessica Judd 20 metres further back.
However, slowly over the next kilometre two critical things happen: firstly Grovdal got up with the leading group while, by contrast, Can &ndash; who was eventually to finish 14th &ndash; started to drift back, as did Mengsteab and Teferi albeit less dramatically.
By the fifth kilometre, with Klosterhalfen pushing the pace during the middle stages of the race, Grovdal was running comfortably on the shoulder of the German with Bahta also striding smoothly over the increasingly muddy circuit after six previous races.
About 40 metres behind the leading trio, Judd and Germany&rsquo;s Alina Reh, with the latter having run a well-paced race up to this stage in the race, were lying in fourth and fifth place.
However, just before the sixth kilometre, the wheels suddenly came off for Klosterhalfen and the race for gold over the final two kilometres was down to a head-to-head battle between the Scandinavian pair of Bahta and Grovdal, the Swede herself a bronze medallist in 2014 and silver medallist in 2017.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
At last! ???? After five successive silver and bronze medals, Karoline Gr&oslash;vdal ???????? (<a href="https://twitter.com/KarolineBGrvdal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KarolineBGrvdal</a>) is crowned senior women's European cross country champion! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FingalDublin2021?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FingalDublin2021</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/Norsk_Friidrett?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Norsk_Friidrett</a>) <a href="https://t.co/oUZeviydVV">pic.twitter.com/oUZeviydVV</a>
&mdash; European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/1470040836180226056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2021</a></blockquote>
The entertaining duel continued over much of the final lap although Bahta was starting to show signs of tiredness as her head bobbed from side-to-side and with 500 metres remaining Grovdal obviously sensed this was the moment to make a decisive surge and quickly pulled away from her last remaining rival.
Grovdal crossed the line after 8025m of running in 26:34, 10 seconds in front of the flagging Bahta with the fast-finishing Alina Reh motoring away from Judd in the final kilometre to take an unexpected bronze medal in 26:53.
The delighted but exhausted Norwegian immediately just sat down in the mud beyond the finishing line, getting her breath back and savouring her big moment after having come so close to gold so many times since 2015.
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"I have won so many bronze and silver medals at European level - both on the track and in cross country - so for me to take the gold today means a lot. I am so happy for having been able to do that. It was not only until the last lap that I realised that I would be able to take the win," reflected Grovdal.
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"I think the start wasn't easy, as I was a little behind, which made me feel a bit concerned, but then I slowly caught up with the girls leading the pack, that's also the reason I still had some energy left towards the end. I felt very relieved coming down the home stretch," she added.&nbsp;
Reh, the 2017 U23 champion, was more demonstratively overcome with emotion, tears streaming from her face after struggling with injuries for much of the year which saw her miss all of 2021, and her chance to go to the Olympics, until she returned to the roads in September.
Further down the field, Ireland's 2011 and 2012 champion Fionnaula McCormack finished ninth on her record 17th appearance at the Championships, her performance coming just a week after she ran 2:23:58 in the Valencia Marathon to go third on the 2021 European list for the classic distance.
Even though Judd just missed out on an individual medal, she got some compensation as she led Great Britain to the team gold medals, retaining the place at the top of the podium they achieved in Lisbon with Jennifer Nesbit and Jessica Gibbon in tenth and 11th place to complete their scoring trio in Fingal-Dublin and tally 25 points.
Great Britain also made it seven time in the last ten editions that they have won this title.
Reh added a team silver medal to her individual bronze, with Klosterhalfen finishing fifth: although there was an agonising wait for German cross country fans of almost two minutes after their leading pair crossed the line, counting down the places to see whether they could snatch the title from Great Britain, before Domenika Mayer finished 21st to confirm that they would finish in second place with 29 points for their best ever result in this category.
Like Reh, Bahta also got a second medal on Sunday as Sweden won their first ever senior women's team medal with 38 points, helped by Mengsteab hanging on to finish sixth.

Grovdal finally gets her senior gold medal

After so many near misses, Grovdal finally gets her senior gold in Dublin

Great Britain retained their mixed relay title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships and, with the greatest respect to the three other members of their winning quartet who certainly contributed significantly, most of the plaudits have to go to their third leg runner Alex Bell.
Bell, an Olympic Games 800m finallist this summer, started her leg 12 seconds down on the lead and handed over to the British anchor runner Ben West four seconds in front of her nearest rivals.
West, making his British debut at any level, then attacked hard over the first half of the final leg over approximately 1600m to dent the hopes that anybody else might have had of wrestling the crown from Britain's grasp and despite visibly tiring over the final 300 metres, he had enough strength to maintain the lead all the way to the line.
The race started with Hungary&rsquo;s Lili Anna Toth flying into the front from the gun and the 2017 SPAR European Cross Country Championships U20 silver medallist had a 20-metre lead halfway through the first lap.
However, in the final third of the race, the chasing pack of seven teams started to close and with 200 metres remaining Ireland&rsquo;s Ciara Mageean and Switzerland&rsquo;s Lore Hoffmann overtook the tiring Toth.
Luke McCann took over from Mageean and then ran a superb circuit of the Sport Ireland Campus course, looking wonderfully relaxed for much of his stint and clocking 4:15 for the 1500m lap, to give Ireland a three-second lead at the halfway point in the race with Switzerland and France following him home after two legs.
However, the third lap belonged to Bell. The Great Britain team captain took over in sixth place, after solid but unspectacular opening legs from Hannah Nuttall and Luke Duffy, and then started almost immedaitely to gain ground on the women in front of her.
Ireland&rsquo;s Siofra Cleirigh Buttner at one point had a five-second advantage at the front of the race approximately halfway round the third leg but the fourth-place finisher in the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships 800m clearly started too fast and unravelled badly in the final few hundred metres.
Bell &ndash; the one surviving member of Great Britain&rsquo;s victorious quartet in 2019 when she also ran the third leg &ndash; and Belgium&rsquo;s Vanessa Scaunet overhauled Cleirigh Buttner 300 metres from the changeover before the Briton, in turn, started to move away from Scaunet and she handed over to Ben West with a four-second advantage.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Hannah Nuttall ↪ Luke Duffy ↪ Alex Bell ↪ Ben West ???? For the third time in four stagings, <a href="https://twitter.com/BritAthletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BritAthletics</a> capture the mixed relay title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FingalDublin2021?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FingalDublin2021</a> <a href="https://t.co/0gTsyvgZFN">pic.twitter.com/0gTsyvgZFN</a>
&mdash; European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/1470013716464873483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2021</a></blockquote>
It was left to West to bring Great Britain home and he did so with aplomb despite his lack of international experience, crossing the line in 18:01 to huge applause from a sizable contingent of British fans.
"I've not had a stage and heard an audience like that in so long, it was unbelievable," said Bell. West added: "I was so nervous when Alex got in the lead, I thought 'I&acute;ve got to hold it now,' so I took off and I was knackered by 400 metres in, I was like 'Oh Dear, they are going to come back for me' but I'm happy to take the win."
Behind West in the finishing straight, there was a tremendous three way battle between France, Belgium and Ireland for the other medals. France's Alexis Meillet had the better sprint finish &ndash; as befits a man with a 3:34.23 1500m best &ndash; to clinch the silver medal for Les Bleus in 18:05 with Belgium&rsquo;s Stijn Baeten finishing third one second behind and Ireland&rsquo;s Andrew Coscoran just missing out on the medals in fourth despite being given the same time of 18:06 as Belgium.

Great Britain retained their mixed relay title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships and most of the plaudits have to go to their third leg runner Alex Bell.

Great Britain retain mixed relay title thanks to third leg heroics from Bell

Nadia Battocletti won her first European cross country title in a sprint finish at U20 level in 2018 and the rising Italian star landed the U23 title in similar fashion on Sunday (12) at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Fingal-Dublin.
After winning back-to-back U20 titles in 2018 and 2019, Battocletti continued her seamless transition through the ranks with her third successive European cross country title and her second U23 title of the year after winning 5000m gold at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Tallinn.
Battocletti only hit the front in the very late stages and when she did, she moved emphatically away from a classy field which included the silver and bronze medallists from the U20 race two years ago in Slovenia&rsquo;s Klara Lukan and Mariana Machado from Portugal.
After vying for the lead with her long-time rival Lukan, Battocletti moved to the front with real intent with more than 19 minutes on the clock and the 21-year-old engineering student manufactured a commanding winning margin, crossing the line in 20:32 to win by four seconds from Lukan.
In a repeat of the podium from Lisbon two years ago, Machado came through for the bronze medal in 20:36 with France&rsquo;s Manon Trapp - who was responsible for setting most of the pace in the middle of the race - dropping back to fourth in 20:42. The big Irish hope Sarah Healy had to settle for fifth in 20:48.&nbsp;
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&ldquo;I don't know how I do this. Well, I guess the enthusiasm from the Tokyo Olympics played a part in it. It was a really tough race, with so many strong girls, like Klara, Mariana and Sarah - I am very happy,&rdquo; said Battocletti, whose excellent season also included a seventh-place finish at the Olympic Games over 5000m.
&ldquo;My team told me I could probably win easily, but in my head I know that when I step on the course, I don't know the shape of the other girls, I don't know anything about them, so I need to come out here and do my race. It is not true that when you are the favourite, the reality is different, and I always try to run fast to get a win - it is not easy though,&rdquo; added Battocletti who also led Italy to the team title from.
Italy&rsquo;s three counter accrued 18 points to lift the trophy from France (25) and Great Britain &amp; NI (37).
The men&rsquo;s race was a seesawing affair with the lead changing multiple times in the last lap of the 8km contest at the Sport Ireland Campus.
Great Britain&rsquo;s Charles Hicks, who was his country&rsquo;s leading counter in the U20 two years ago, made an early breakaway which was gradually foiled by the highly vaunted Irish prospect Darragh McElhinney who received fulsome support from a sizeable crowd.&nbsp;&nbsp;
But as the two favourites sized each other up, they were joined by a surprise interloper from Luxembourg in Ruben Querinjean who was only fifth and nine seconds down on Hicks and McElhinney with one lap to go.
All three athletes had a stint in the lead on the decisive last lap but Hicks kept something in reserve for the long and slightly uphill home straight, forging away for the individual title in 24:29 ahead of McElhinney (24:33) and Querinjean (24:36) who won Luxembourg&rsquo;s first ever medal at the European Cross Country Championships.
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&ldquo;I tried out so many surges and breaks but [Darragh] couldn just not be broken. The crowd was just cheering him on so much, it was good to see although it was putting me under a lot of pain,&rdquo; recalled Hicks whose journey from the United States where he studies in Stanford was fully justified.
And by finishing with an individual silver, McElhinney also led a jubilant Ireland to a brilliant team gold medal with 21 points ahead of Great Britain &amp; NI (24) and France (36).
&ldquo;I'm absolutely over the moon. I'm happy with second, I'm more than content but the fact that the team pulled it out of the bag, I&acute;m buzzing,&rdquo; said McElhinney who was ably backed up by Keelan Kilrehill in sixth and Micheal Power in 13th.
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Battocletti wins her third successive European cross country title in Fingal-Dublin

Axel Vang Christensen continued his outstanding winter form by holding off three reigning European U20 champions on the track and taking the first title of the day at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Fingal-Dublin, on Sunday.
The Dane &ndash; just the second individual men&rsquo;s winner after Carsten Jorgensen won the senior men&rsquo;s title in 1997 &ndash; darted to the front just after the first 1500m lap in the men's U20 race and then continually forged ahead to eventually win by the huge margin of 25 seconds.
At the halfway point in the race, the tall 17-year-old European U20 3000m steeplechase silver medallist in Tallinn this summer had managed to put nine seconds between himself and Norway&rsquo;s Abdullahi Dahir Rabi, who had won the Nordic title in front of Christensen a month ago.
Christensen then just kept gliding over the mud at the Sport Ireland Campus over the second half of the race and gradually extending his lead although Rabi was able to stay running strongly in second place and had a significant margin over the other medal contenders going into the last lap.
Over the final lap of 1500m, Christensen continued to negotiate his way comfortably around the testing course and over the last few &nbsp;hundred metres it was clear from the expression on Rabi&rsquo;s face that he had given up hope of Christensen suffering a late meltdown and he visibly eased up.
Christensen eventually crossed the line in 17:53 after 6011m of running, with Rabi a distant second in 18:18.&nbsp; Behind the leading pair, Denmark&rsquo;s European U20 5000m winner Joel Ibler Lilleso ran a tactically astute race with a strong third lap to move up several places from the halfway point.
Just after the bell, Lileso overtook Israel&rsquo;s flagging Adisu Guadia &ndash; who had tried to stay with Rabi once Christensen started to move away at the front but would eventually drift back to finish 11th &ndash; and ultimately made the bronze medal his own.
Another Tallinn champion, Spanish steeplechaser Pol Oriach, actually ran the last lap faster than anyone else and sped past a host of runners on the laps lap before trying to charge down Lileso over the 300 metres but left his effort just a bit too late and had to settle for fourth place.
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"Obviously, Abdullahi, my team mate Joel and Pol &ndash; the guy who beat me in the steeplechase this summer [at the European Athletics U20 Championships] &ndash; were my main opponents, so I felt I had to get my revenge here today. Having competed with them before was definitely an advantage because I felt I had something to prove. I wanted to get that gold medal really bad," commented Christensen.
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Good packing by Great Britain - with their three scorers finishing in ninth, tenth and 15th to give them a total of 34 &ndash; meant that they retained the team title they won two years ago in Lisbon.
However, it was very close.
An inspired Irish team, looking for their first ever U20 gold medal at these championships, finished just one point in arrears of Great Britain, helped in no small part by Adel Laddjel rising to the occasion and finishing an unexpected sixth.
An even bigger surprise came in the shape of the Israeli team who placed three men in the top 20 and totalled 37 points, just three behind Britain and two behind Ireland, to take their first ever medal of any description at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
Keith grits her teeth and gets gold
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Yet another U20 gold medal for Great Britain. ???? Megan Keith kicks for victory in the women's U20 race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships! ????<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FingalDublin2021?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FingalDublin2021</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/BritAthletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BritAthletics</a>) <a href="https://t.co/MkCyB0JXIv">pic.twitter.com/MkCyB0JXIv</a>
&mdash; European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/1469984313475321859?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2021</a></blockquote>
Great Britain&rsquo;s Megan Keith was to the fore throughout the women&rsquo;s U20 race but it took her until the final 500 metres of the 3984m race before she managed to put daylight between herself and her rivals for the title.
In contrast to the earlier men&rsquo;s U20 race, there was a large pack of more than 20 runner togethers at the halfway point.
Keith and Hungary&rsquo;s highly-fancied Greta Varga, who took the silver medal in the 3000m steeplechase in Tallinn, were the main protagonists pushing the pace on the second lap but behind them there was a host of other prominent names whose track form suggested they could be medal contenders.
Also showing well at this stage was Germany&rsquo;s Emma Heckel, who has started studying at the University of New Mexico following her third place in the Tallinn 5000m, and it was Heckel who moved up alongside Keith as they heard the bell with one lap to go.
The pair then had a fine duel over the next kilometre, with a little bit of daylight emerging between the leading pair and the women behind them, until the final 500 metres when Keith surged again and the German started to look very tired and started to slip back.
Keith, the British trials winner for Fingal-Dublin, now knew that she had the gold medal in her grasp and was determined to not let it go and sprinted for home to the raucous delight of the many British supporters among the 10,000 course-side spectators.
The Briton crossed the line 13:41 as behind her Norway&rsquo;s Ingeborg Ostgard finished with a tremendous sprint as befits her status as the 1500m winner in Tallinn this summer and flew past Heckel in the last 50 metres to take the silver medal three seconds behind Keith.
Heckel came home third, a further two seconds further back but her efforts were rewarded when Germany shortly afterwards were confirmed as the unexpected team gold medallists, with their three scorers in the top 10, regaining a title they last won in this age group in 2015 with a mere 15 points, the lowest winning total since 2008.
Spain took the team silver medals despite the Tallinn 5000m champion Carla Dominguez, many pundit&rsquo;s pick as a medal contender especially after recent results on home soil, finishing a disappointing 54th.
Great Britain, U20 team winners on 16 of the last 20 occasions prior to Fingal-Dublin, had to settle for third place on this occasion despite Keith&rsquo;s individual victory.

Christensen and Keith take unexpected under 20 titles in Fingal-Dublin

Christensen and Keith take unexpected U20 titles in Fingal-Dublin

Great Britain & NI topped the medal table at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships for the seventh time this decade, winning five gold medals across the programme.
In fact, the Brits were only one of two nations to win multiple gold medals at the Bela Vista Park in Lisbon alongside France who won two gold medals in the men’s U23 race courtesy of the exploits of Jimmy Gressier successfully defending both his individual and team titles.
After missing out on the medals in the mixed relay in Tilburg last year, the Brits were back on top of the podium in near gun-to-tape fashion. Sarah McDonald, who was part of the gold medal-winning quartet when the event made its debut in Samorin two years ago, put the Brits in contention for the title on the first leg before Jonny Davies - the individual U23 champion in Hyeres four years ago - brought the quartet home in 17:55 ahead of last year’s bronze medalists Belarus in 18:01 and France in 18:05.
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Jessica Judd couldn’t quite hold onto the bronze medal in the mixed relay last year but she performed excellently in the senior women’s race, leading Great Britain to the team title ahead of Ireland and Portugal. Competing on what she described as the toughest course she has ever raced on, Judd finished sixth individually - two places ahead of Charlotte Arter - to add to her medal haul which already includes individual U20 and U23 medals from the European Cross Country Championships.
This completed the second part of a British team double in the senior races after Great Britain beat Belgium by only two points for the men’s team title. 
Andrew Butchart and Ben Connor were part of the gold medal-winning British team in 2016 and they joined forces again yesterday, finishing fifth and ninth individually to help the Brits regain the team title. This was only their third gold medal from the senior men’s team race after prior successes in 1999 and 2016.
Great Britain also swept the gold medals in the U20 team race. With their three counters finishing inside the top eleven, the Brits won gold in the first race of the day - the men’s U20 race - with 25 points ahead of Norway with 38 points but the women’s U20 race was a decidedly tighter affair.
The Brits had won this title on 15 prior occasions and they won their 16th in Lisbon by the narrowest of margins. Both Great Britain and Italy were tied on 29 points but the Brits packed better with three counters inside the top twelve which gave them the verdict.
<div> </div>

 Great Britain & NI topped the medal table at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships for the seventh time this decade, winning five gold medals across

Great Britain tops medal table in Lisbon with five titles

Yasemin Can has been the dominant force at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships since 2016 but there were question marks over the Turk’s form and fitness heading into this year’s race.
Can hasn’t raced since mid-July due to injury but any doubts about her condition were dispelled on the first of the five long laps of 1500 metres. After a conservative start, Can found her position towards the front of the pack at the end of the small lap before striking clear on the first long lap.
The field had already completely splintered as they headed onto the second long lap. Can led by one second from four-time bronze medallist Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal from Norway but the rest of the pack - which included former two-time winner Fionnuala McCormack from Ireland - were already another 14 seconds in arrears with another six kilometres ahead of them around the Bela Vista Park.
Grovdal was the lone challenger to Can on the first long lap but she was already beginning to lose ground on the leader and Can was away and clear on the second large lap which she covered in 4:46. The Turk opened up a seven second gap on Grovdal who in turn was safe in the silver medal position some 26 seconds ahead of a triumvirate which was comprised of McCormack, Liv Westphal from France and Sweden’s Samrawit Mengsteab.
Can might have been absent from the racing scene due to injury but the reigning champion looked close to her peak form on the hills of the Bela Vista Park. Without showing too many signs of fatigue, Can duly embellished her gap over the course of the last three laps, coming home to win an unprecedented fourth successive title in the senior women’s race in 26:52 just a few days shy of her 23rd birthday.
“The course was hilly but I was ready for it because where I come from it is like that,” commented Can whose run of success dates back to Chia in Italy in 2016.
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet'>
A fourth successive gold medal for Yasemin Can in the senior women's race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships! <a href='https://t.co/yqWkVE58CJ'>pic.twitter.com/yqWkVE58CJ</a>
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href='https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/1203674024729026560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>December 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
The gaps behind Can were significant as Grovdal ran in isolation for most of the race to win the silver medal some fifteen seconds in arrears, extending her record medal haul for a female participant at the European Cross Country Championships. This was her seventh individual medal since winning U20 silver on her debut in 2006.
Another athlete making history was McCormack who was competing at the European Cross Country Championships for the 16th time since 2001 - a record on the women’s side. McCormack was in contention for a return to the podium after a seven year hiatus but the veteran Irishwoman - who has strength, tenacity and endurance in abundance and was fancied to perform well on this sort of course - just missed out on the individual bronze medal in a sprint finish against the largely unheralded Mengsteab, 27:43 to 27:45.
But there was consolation for McCormack who anchored the Irish team to the silver medal behind Great Britain - 26 to 41 points. This was their fourth medal of the championships which augurs well for next year when the event returns to Irish soil in Dublin after eleven years. 
“It's difficult because I've come fourth so many times before, and it's very painful to be honest,” reflected McCormack. “But we got a team medal today, and that's good. We had a very successful team championships this year, I don't think we've ever won this many medals as a whole group before - and going into Dublin next year, that's promising.”
Led by Jessica Judd in sixth and Charlotte Arter in seventh, the Brits won the senior women’s team title for the seventh time while the championships concluded with a rousing team medal for the hosts.
Not since 2011 have the Portuguese team won a medal in the senior women’s race but the veteran of their team Ana Dulce Felix - who won four successive individual medals from 2010 and 2013 as well as the 10,000m title at the European Championships in 2012 - helmed her triumvirate to a brilliantly well-received bronze medal.
Felix, who now has nine medals from the European Cross Country Championships since 2008 at the age of 37, finished eighth individually. Carla Salome Rocha was only two places behind in tenth with their third counter - and their only other athlete in the senior race - Susana Francisco finishing 25th to win their third bronze medal of the day.
<div><blockquote class='twitter-tweet'>
All the feels! Ã¢&#152;º 
Portugal won their first senior women's team medal since 2011 with Dulce Felix leading the hosts to bronze. <a href='https://t.co/gUlcGYwsF8'>pic.twitter.com/gUlcGYwsF8</a>
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href='https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/1203769895676260354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>December 8, 2019</a></blockquote></div>

 Yasemin Can has been the dominant force at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships since 2016 but there were question marks over the Turk’s form and

Can wins an unprecedented fourth successive senior women’s title

Frenchman Jimmy Gressier became the third Tilburg champion to defend his crown again here today – and he once more celebrated in memorable fashion as he won the U23 title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships for a third time in a row. 
In a race across 8225m over one short lap and five long laps, he also led France to team gold for the third year in succession. 
This ends the most incredible sporting year for Gressier as he now has four European gold medals after his sensational 5000m and 10,000m double at the European U23 Championships in Gavle in July.
Twelve months ago in Tilburg, he fell and slid across the line on his knees in the mud as he celebrated his success but this time he was far enough ahead to first send a kiss to the crowd, stretching his arms out and then walk the last few metres, jigging his body from side to side, before breaking the tape.
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet'>
Never a dull moment with <a href='https://twitter.com/jimmy_gressier?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>@jimmy_gressier</a>! 
The Frenchman wins his third successive U23 titles in both the individual and team race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lisbon. <a href='https://t.co/6AMbM0V6Qx'>pic.twitter.com/6AMbM0V6Qx</a>
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href='https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/1203637329367306241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>December 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
He did so in a time of 24:17, eight seconds ahead of Serbia’s Elzan Bibic with Spain’s Abdessamad Oukhelfen third in 24:34. France also won the team gold with 17 points from Italy with 29 and Germany with 45.
“I felt great today,” said Gressier. “I knew I had to be patient, so I went for it at the right time without making it too hard for myself. I kept telling myself to be calm and to be in control.
“I knew my legs could do it and as I moved to the front, I kept this image in my head that I could win, so the strategy paid off. I finished again with my aeroplane move, it’s a great celebration and a great way to finish – especially after what happened last year in Tilburg.”
Gressier is 23 in May, so this is the last the championships will see of him at this level but he goes out with some record after breaking through by winning his first individual gold medal in Samorin in 2017. 
Wearing his trademark baseball cap, he led early on before Bibic took up the running from Gressier with Oukhelfen just behind, this trio breaking away from the rest. 
But reigning champion Gressier made a significant move on the steep downhill section on the penultimate lap which elicited an immediate impact, extending his lead stride by stride and never losing his footing on the quick up-and-down challenges near the end. 
The French team might not have packed as well as they did in 2017 and 2018 but with three finishers inside the top-10 - Fabien Palcau in fourth and Mohamed-Amine El Bouajaji in tenth - they were still assured of their third team title.
Moller storms to a successful title defence in the women's U23 race
The theme of repeating champions continued in the women’s U23 race as Denmark’s Anna Emilie Moller kept hold of her title. 
Like Gressier, Moller is also 23 next year and she bade farewell to this age-group event after a prolific display over 6225m, breaking away in the final two kilometres and looked so at ease, opening up an awesome winning margin. 
And like Gressier, Moller has amassed an incredible 2019. This win now goes alongside her double gold from the Gavle 2019 European Athletics U23 Championships in Gavle in July when she won the 5000m and 3000m steeplechase titles. 
Extending her lead all the time today, she won in 20:30, a big victory from the Netherlands’ Jasmijn Lau in second in 21:09 with Ireland’s Stephanie Cotter third in 21:15.
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Lau did end the day with gold as she led the Dutch to the team title with 17 points from Ireland with 29 – and two silvers for Cotter – with Great Britain and Northern Ireland taking bronze with 40.
Moller hardly lost her stride or her patten, head down and maintaining a superb pace throughout as she tore the rest of the field apart. Her winning margin was a significant one but Moller didn’t take anything for granted on an undulating and rutted course at the Bela Vista Park. 
“It feels amazing to win again, I love winning. It's all you want to do as an athlete so I'm pleased the race went the way I hope for - you never know how it will develop, and anything can happen,” said Moller. 
As Lau took second, her teammate Jasmijn Bakker was fourth in 21:21 with Diane Van Es in 11th in 21:53 as the third of the gold Dutch counters. 
Likewise, Cotter came away with two medals from this category as the individual bronze medallist led Ireland to the silver medal in the team race with twins Eilish and Roisin Flanagan ninth and seventeenth respectively. 
<div> </div>

 Frenchman Jimmy Gressier became the third Tilburg champion to defend his crown again here today – and he once more celebrated in memorable fashion as he won

Gressier and Møller graduate out of the U23 ranks on a golden note

Jakob Ingebrigtsen made it an awesome foursome as he was once more crowned men’s U20 gold medallist at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lisbon this morning.
In the past few weeks there was no guarantee that the 19-year-old Norwegian superstar would even be here to defend his title but his decision to compete, having just returned from altitude training Flagstaff, Arizona was fully justified as he triumphed for the fourth time in a row.
With specks of rain in the air but far from a muddy course to contend with, Ingebrigtsen was supreme again over the 6.225km route as he won by an amazing 38 seconds - a record margin in the U20 race - and took silver in the team event too. 
Gold went the way of the Brits, led home by Charles Hicks who finished fifth, with delight for hosts Portugal who pipped Ireland for bronze. 
It is easy to forget that Ingebrigtsen was only 16 years old when he won this title on the first occasion in Chia in 2016 and his progression since then has been amazing. Ingebrigtsen said: “It was a fun race - it looked like it was going to be difficult but after the first lap, you already know who’s bringing it and who is not.
“I remember my first win, it is always the first win that I am most proud of. After a couple of years, you feel like you’ve been there and done it all but now I am looking forward to not being in the junior category anymore.” 
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A double senior European champion on the track outdoors, his versatility remains immense and from the moment the gun fired, it was just a case of when would he take control.
There was no rush for Ingebrigtsen as the runners met an incline within moments of the start and as they took the right hand turn on the small lap for the first time, Spain was making the early running, with Pol Oriach and Alejandro Quijada leading. 
No panic at this stage - or any for that matter - from Ingebrigtsen, as he stayed to the left of the pack in sixth but it was not long after that Ingebrigtsen put his foot on the gas and took over. 
He looked so comfortable even towards the latter stages of the race at the undulating Bela Vista Park, with Ireland’s Efrem Gidey, Turkey’s European U20 5000m silver medallist Ayetullah Aslanhan and Hicks now the contenders as a break emerged. 
The trio chasing Ingebrigtsen quickly became only two as Hicks slipped away. As the camera panned in on Ingebrigtsen when he took the bell four seconds ahead of Aslanhan who was now one second ahead of Gidey, the Norwegian was the only runner in the shot. 
He was that clear - that in command - occasionally looking over his shoulder but one suspected this was more of a guarantee that he was in no danger - and maybe to see where his teammates were in the context of a pursuit on the team title. The closest at that stage was Hakon Stavik in 12th. 
Ingebrigtsen was taking in the adulation as he came down the hill – where he almost lost his footing at one stage – to win in 18:20 with Aslanhan coming through for a second European silver this year after making a brilliant late sprint. 
He added to his silver medal from Boras by crossing the line in 18:58 with Gidey third on his debut for Ireland in 19:01.
Battocletti makes it back-to-back U20 titles
A year after winning gold in the women’s U20 race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships by one second, Nadia Battocletti successfully defended her title with more room to breathe this time. 
And in the team event, there was a successful defence for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, led home by Izzy Fry in sixth.
Battocletti won by three seconds, producing an outstanding display, after taking an early lead, staying poised and then breaking away when she really needed to. 
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At the bell, Batocletti led from Portugal’s home favourite Mariana Machado, a stride ahead of European U20 champions Klara Lukan from Slovenia, Poland’s Zofia Dudek and Switzerland’s Delia Sclabas.
Sclabas was the first to drop off the pace as they took a key climb on the last lap as Machado moved in front, driven on by the noise of the Portuguese fans.
Whatever Machado did at the front, it worked as it became a group of three with Battocletti and Lukan just behind. A small gap then appeared, with Battocletti on the shoulder of Machado and as the course went downhill again, the Italian went in front before another small climb.
It would take something special from here to catch Battocletti and the Italian duly stretched away on the descent into the finish, winning in 13:58 ahead of Lukan who took silver in 14:01 from Machado third in 14:10. 
Battocletti said: “I don’t know exactly what it feels to be the reigning champion. It was probably better the first time but I am happy about this win. 
“I didn’t feel much pressure coming here, I was probably more nervous at the European U20 Championships in Boras this summer. I hope I will continue to win like this in the future.”
Great Britain and Italy ended with the same points in the team event - 29 - but the gold went to the Brits as their last counter - Amelia Samuels in 12th in 14:41 - was a place and one second ahead of the third Italian, Angela Mattevi.
Along with Fry, their triumphant trio was made up of Saskia Millard in 11th in 14:37 with Manon Trapp the first Frenchwoman, ninth in 14:37, as they took team bronze with 38.
<div> </div>

 Jakob Ingebrigtsen made it an awesome foursome as he was once more crowned men’s U20 gold medallist at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in

Ingebrigtsen and Battocletti repeat on the hills in Lisbon

SPAR has been the principal sponsor of European Athletics since 1996, becoming synonymous with the sport during this period. Athletics is a sport where personal endeavour is combined with team participation to achieve success, and SPAR identifies with this principle through its national partners by ensuring that consumers enjoy shopping at SPAR. SPAR retailers continue to develop the brand through sponsorship awareness and through the critical link with individual athletes who are also customers of independent retailers. SPAR is proud to be involved with European Athletics, an organisation which strives to bring passion and enthusiasm for their sport to viewers, spectators and participants.

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SPAR European Cross Country Championships

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