Yemaneberhan Crippa is setting his sights on the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, Türkiye on 8 December.
In a season which was highlighted by individual and team gold medals in the half marathon at the European Athletics Championships in Rome and an Italian marathon record of 2:06:06 in Seville, Crippa will be aiming to end a stellar year with yet another continental medal.
Crippa is a two-time winner of the U20 title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships but the 28-year-old hasn’t been on the rostrum individually since Lisbon 2019 when he won individual silver on a firm but undulating course.
Since then, Crippa picked up a team silver medal on home soil at the 2022 edition in Turin when they just missed out on the team title by one point but the Italian did not find the thick mud and heavy underfoot conditions in Brussels last year to his liking, settling for 13th individually and eighth in the team race.
But Crippa should find the course in Antalya, which is likely to be flat and firm underfoot, much more to his liking as he endeavours to return to the podium individually for the first time since 2019.
Crippa has just returned from a stint of high altitude training in Iten in Kenya and he will test his fitness on Sunday at the Cross Internacional de Italica in Seville which looks likely to be his one and only race ahead of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships where Crippa has been a very familiar face in recent years.
This will be Crippa’s 12th successive appearance at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships since making his debut in the U20 race at the age of 16 in 2012.
Steven Mills for European Athletics