Dulce Felix has won four individual medals in seven appearances in the senior race but she is yet to stand atop of the podium at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
But Felix will get another crack at individual glory later this season as the 34-year-old is one of eighth athletes to be pre-named on the Portuguese team for this year’s edition of the event which takes place in Chia, Italy on 11 December.
Felix added to her continental medal haul with silver in the 10,000m at the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam in a lifetime best of 31:19.03 - a performance made all the more impressive by the fact she was in heavy training for the marathon at the Olympic Games where she was sixteenth in hot and humid conditions in 2:30:39.
Felix, who was also the fourth European finisher in Rio de Janeiro, looks set to renew her rivalry with European 5000m and 10,000m champion Yasemin Can, who has confirmed she is targeting her third major title of the year this December.
The Portuguese team won three successive team titles between 2008 and 2010 but a silver medal in 2011 was their last triumph as a collective. They are set to arrive in Chia with a strong women’s team as Carla Rocha, who was ninth in 2013 and tenth in 2014 - and has improved considerably since then - has also been pre-selected.
Sara Catarina Ribeiro has also been pre-selected for the women’s senior team; Andre Pereira, Ruben Pessoa and Luis Miguel Borges have been pre-selected for the men’s under-23 team; Sonia Ferreira has been selected for the under-23 race; and Filipe Fialho will compete in the men’s junior race.
The full team will be announced on 24 November.