The 20th anniversary of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships presented just the type of unique challenge that purists of the discipline savour.
Snow, ice, mud, hills and mountain altitude all combined for a classic test of cross country running in Samokov, Bulgaria. Coupled with some gripping races, it added up to a fitting occasion for the landmark staging, taking place in its fifteenth country since the inaugural event in Alnwick, Great Britain in 1994.
Steely determination
The race of the day was the senior women’s event. In-form British champion Gemma Steel was determined to complete her SPAR European Cross Country Championships medal collection with gold, having took silver at Belgrade 2013 and bronze at Velenje 2011.
But she would have to overcome the last two winners in France’s Sophie Duarte (2013) and Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton (2011-2012) if she were to take the final step to top the podium. Sweden’s Meraf Bahta, 5000m gold medallist at the Zurich 2014 European Athletics Championships was another obvious threat.
But as the race unfolded, it became clear that Steel’s greatest challenge would come from a lot closer to home in the shape of Kate Avery. Her British teammate had won bronze in the women’s U20 race in Dublin 2009; but was a slightly unknown quantity having not raced in Europe all winter.
Based in the USA, a month prior, she triumphed at the prestigious NCAA Cross Country Championship in Indiana and despite vastly different conditions in Bulgaria’s Rila Mountain range, she ran like an athlete high on confidence.
She took the race out and with three kilometres still left to run, it become a head to head between the two British athletes for gold as they ran clear from the field. It was neck-and-neck right to the finishing straight where Steel’s unwavering desire for gold held firm as she edged ahead in the closing strides to win, both athletes were timed at 28:27 on the 8.05km course.
Bahta just got the better of Belgium’s Almenesh Belete in the battle for bronze with Duarte and Britton fifth and sixth respectively. Steel and Avery were ably backed by Steph Twell (7th) and Lily Partridge (11th) to claim team gold for Great Britain, ahead of Spain and Ireland.
Turkish delight
The senior men’s race followed a similar theme. But this time it was two Turkish athletes to the fore.
Polat Kemboi Arıkan, gold medallist over 10,000m at the 2012 European Athletics Championships and Ali Kaya, 10,000m bronze medallist in 2014 were joined by Spain’s defending champion Alemayehu Bezabeh in splitting the field well before halfway of the 9.88km course.
But in the last kilometre, the Turks broke Bezabeh and it came down to a sprint finish in which Arikan won with both timed at 32:19, 11 seconds clear of Bezabeh who had to settle for bronze. It was double delight for the Turkish as they won the team title as well, supported by Cihat Ulus (11th) and Ramazan Özdemir (19th).
Spain won team silver and Italy team bronze.
Crippa wins first international title
The men’s U20 race saw the flowering of a future star, as Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa took his first international title. But it could have been so different had Russia's Aleksandr Novikov not completely mistimed his effort.
Bursting to the front on the penultimate lap, he took off from the pack and sprinted down the home straight as if running to the finish, only to be greeted by the bell. Having miscounted the laps, he had prematurely emptied his tank and was hungrily eaten up by the chasing pack.
Crippa grabbed the opportunity with both hands, taking over at the front from a crestfallen Novikov and running clear to win gold. Aged just 18 at the time, he defended the title a year later in Hyères 2015, laying the foundations for his superb career which has since brought European Athletics Championship titles over 10,000m in Munich 2022 in the and half marathon on home soil in Roma 2024.
Spain’s Carlos Mayo won silver with another Italian, Said Ettaqy taking bronze. Italy also won the team gold from Spain and Türkiye.
In the women’s U20 race, Türkiye’s Emina Hatun Tuna won gold to add to 3000m silver she won at the Rieti 2013 European Athletics U20 Championships.
Britain’s Jessica Judd took silver, her first medal in her long career at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships, which has also included bronze in the women’s U23 race in Samorin 2017 and top eight finishes in the senior women’s race in the last four editions in Lisbon 2019 (6th), Dublin 2021 (4th), Turin 2022 (8th) and Brussels 2023 (5th).
Bronze went to her British teammate Lydia Turner. Britain took team gold from France and Germany, whose team included Konstanze Klosterhalfen in 19th place. Then aged just 17, she went on to win 5000m bronze at the Doha 2019 World Athletics Championships and 5000m gold at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships.
Britain tops medal table
The men’s U23 race saw a Russian 1-2-3 through Ilgizar Safiulin, Igor Maksimov and Vladimir Nikitin. They also gleaned the team title from Britain and Sweden.
And in the women’s U23 race, Britain’s Rhona Auckland won gold from Bulgaria's Militsa Mircheva and Russia's Gulshat Fazlitdinova. Russia took the team gold from Britain and Türkiye.
Britain topped the medal table with nine medals, including four gold, four silver and one bronze.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics