Nadia Battocletti confirmed her status as the undisputed queen of European distance running, adding the women’s road 10km title to her growing golden collection at the European Running Championships in Leuven on Sunday (13).
In the last 10 months, the Italian has won a 5000m/10,000m double at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships and the senior women’s title at the Antalya 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
This latest victory confirms her dominance across three surfaces and she was relatively untroubled on a cool, wet morning in Belgium, setting a new Italian record for good measure.
Afterwards, Battocletti, who turned 25 on Saturday (12) said: "This is the best (belated) birthday present I could have wished for. It was my coach yelling at me around the 7km point that I needed to push.
"I saw that my competitors could not keep up with me. I kept pushing on every hill and also in the descent to be sure of the title. The course was not easy as you can see from the times. I now have four titles in less than a year so that's incredible."
Lukan leads early on
European leader Klara Lukan (30:26) of Slovenia was mooted as the big threat pre-race and the pair ran shoulder to shoulder in the opening 2km. Sweden’s Sarah Lahti, France’s Mekdes Woldu, Belgium’s Jana van Lent, Türkiye’s Yasemin Can, Italy’s Sofiia Yaremchuk and Portugal’s Mariana Machado kept a watching brief in a group five metres adrift.
By 4km, Yaremchuk had joined the leading duo up front. The leaders moved through 5km in a swift 15:32. Soon after the halfway point, Lahti regained contact with the front to create a lead bunch of four athletes.
But by 7km, Battocletti took matters into her own hands, striking clear for gold and leaving the rest to fight for silver and bronze. Machado emerged from the chasing pack and drew alongside Lukan, who was now beginning to show signs of fatigue as they approached the final kilometre.
Surging Dieterich grabs surprise silver
There was also a burst from the largely unheralded Eva Dieterich of Germany, 19th in the 10,000m final at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships, who had sat anonymously in the pack to this point.
But the German had judged her race to perfection and as Battocletti pulled clear for gold, Dieterich took an equally tight grip on silver leaving Lukan and Machado to battle it out for bronze.
Battocletti effortlessly ran strong right to the finish, clocking 31:10 for gold, clipping nine seconds from her own national record for gold. Dieterich took a richly deserved silver in 31:25, taking 23 seconds off her previous best.
Lukan was rewarded for her bold early front running, picking up bronze in 31:36, just four seconds clear of a flagging Machado.
“It means so much it was nowhere near expected,” said a thrilled Dieterich afterwards. “I wanted to get something like top 10, but I didn’t think I could make the podium, so I am extremely happy. It was a 20 second personal best I think, so I am really happy.
“It was a tough course, there was a lot of sharp turns and some hills. I come from a very hilly area, so that was good for me. I wanted to go a bit easy on the first half, because second half was a lot more uphill.
“And I saw everyone getting closer and close to me and that really gave me a push towards the end.”
Bronze medallist Lukan said: “I must admit today was a really tough course. But I am really happy, really satisfied with my medal. A medal is not something that just comes, you have to earn it. I really fought to the finish. It’s actually not my first senior medal, so I am really happy.
“I really hope that this event – the European Running Championships will continue in the coming years, because - for sure - I will be coming back.”
Italians grab team title
With the support of Yaremchuk (seventh, 31:39) and Valentina Gemetto (eighth, 31:44), Battocletti could also savour the team title with her Italian colleagues with an aggregate time of 1:34:33. It was also a double celebration for Gemetto, who accepted a marriage proposal at the finish line from boyfriend Paolo Aimar.
Germany took team silver, spearheaded by Dieterich and supported by Elena Burkard (10th, 31:52) and Lisa Merkel (17th, 32:21) for a total time of 1:35:38. Bronze went to France, courtesy of Woldu (8th, 31:43), Leonie Periault (12th, 32:11) and Aude Clavier (19th, 32:34) with a combined time of 1:36:28.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics