Sweden’s Sarah Lahti successfully defended her 8km title at the Warandecross in Tilburg on Sunday (26) on the road to the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Brussels on 10 December.
Lahti completed the second part of a Nordic double in the senior races after Norway’s Senay Fissehatsion converted his promising recent form on the roads to the cross country with victory in the men’s 10km.
The Warandecross is a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Silver level event and the last race on the European calendar before Brussels. A full race replay can be found here.
In a near repeat of last year’s race, Lahti established a big lead of around 20 seconds on the first lap which she didn’t relinquish. Lahti covered the 8km in the Oude Warande in 26:25 - 15 seconds faster than last year - to become the first athlete since Sifan Hassan in 2015 to win back-to-back titles at the Warandecross.
Belgium’s Jana Van Lent, who has been selected for the U23 race at the European Cross Country Championships, warmed up for her home championships in Brussels with a runner-up finish in 26:57 with Merel van der Marel third on home soil in 27:18.
The senior men’s 10km was also dominated by international athletes with Fissehatsion - who began his autumn season with a 60:55 half marathon performance in Copenhagen - taking a notable win ahead of Spain’s former European 5000m champion Ilias Fifa.
Behind the leading two - both of whom were timed at 29:10 for the 10km distance comprised largely on twisty woodland terrain - Belgium’s Thomas Vanoppen completed the podium in third in 29:17 with Filmon Tesfu the leading Dutch finisher in fourth in 29:23.
In the build-up to the European Cross Country Championships, Jesse Fokkenrood from the Netherlands was the first U23 finisher in 10th in 29:33.
The full results can be found here.
Keith builds momentum with victory in Liverpool
European U23 5000m champion Megan Keith dominated the senior women’s race at the Liverpool Cross Challenge on Saturday (25), the British trial race for the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
The 21-year-old dispatched her older and more experienced rivals in convincing fashion, powering through the mud for victory in the senior women’s 8.1km in 26:02.
She had a 53 second wait to shake hands with the runner-up Abbie Donnelly (26:55) with Izzy Fry and world 10,000m eighth-placer Jessica Warner-Judd third (27:05) and fourth (27:09) respectively.
Based on her showings in Cardiff and Liverpool in recent weeks, Keith will begin as the outstanding favourite to add the European U23 cross country title to her U20 gold medal from Fingal-Dublin in 2021.
While Keith’s victory was broadly anticipated, there was an upset in the senior men’s race with Hugo Milner - primarily a triathlete these days - easing to the senior men’s 9.8km title in 28:38 by a clear distance ahead of 1500m specialist Matt Stonier who finished quickly to take second in 29:02.
Stonier will be joined on a strong U23 team in Brussels by European U23 10,000m champion Rory Leonard who finished fourth in 29:03.
In other races, European cross country fourth-placer Innes Fitzgerald won the U20 women's race by 30 seconds in 14:30 while Josh Lay (4:28) and Bethan Morley (5:06) won the short course 1500m titles, the trial race for the mixed relay in Brussels next month.
Elsewhere around Europe…
Bastien Augusto won one of the principal French selection races for the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Brussels in Carhaix on Sunday (26).
Fresh from a recent 27:40 10km, Augusto won the 9km in 27:13 ahead of multiple European cross country team gold medallist Hugo Hay (27:16) and Fabien Palcau (27:17).
At the German Cross Country Championships in Perl on Sunday (26), steeplechaser Elena Burkard won the senior women’s 6.8km title in 22:40 ahead of Eva Dieterich in 22:43.
Markus Gorger won the senior men’s 9.7km by a clear margin from Filmon Tekleberhan - 27:45 to 28:31.
Behind Kenyans Edward Zakayo (26:30) and Vincent Rono (26:49) - both of whom compete for Portuguese clubs - Etson Barros won the senior men’s title at the Portuguese Cross Country Championships in Amora on Sunday.
Multiple European cross country medallist Mariana Machado won the senior women’s race ahead of Kenya’s Fancy Cherono.