It has already been a dream year for Italy’s Nadia Battocletti and she has the chance to achieve something no woman has ever achieved in the history of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships which takes place this year in Antalya, Türkiye on Sunday (8).
No female athlete has won individual age-group titles at U20, U23 and senior level in the history of the championships but Battocletti will have an outstanding chance to complete the set on a largely flat 7.8km course in Dokuma Park which is likely to favour those with stronger track credentials.
And her prospects have been heightened significantly with the late withdrawal of Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal, the three-time reigning champion and a medallist at the last eight editions of the senior women’s race, due to a recent bout of illness.
However, Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen and Türkiye’s four-time Yasemin Can are both on the comeback trail and have proven cross country credentials on this surface, and at this championship, and will be among those out to foil the Italian’s quest for a unique collection of titles.
In the men’s ranks, only Battocletti's compatriot Andrea Lalli has achieved this elusive hat-trick between 2006-12.
And despite the absence of Grøvdal - who won by a record-breaking 45 seconds last year - it is still one of the strongest and most intriguing line-ups for a women’s race in the venerable 30-year history of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
The rise and rise of Battocletti
Battocletti may have been a distant silver medallist behind Grøvdal in the cloying mud in Brussels last year but the Italian is one of the most improved elite distance runners in Europe this year.
Battocletti won a 5000/10,000m double at the European Athletics Championships in Rome in front of an ecstatic crowd which included her coach and father Giuliano - who ran in the SPAR European Cross Country Championships six times - before stepping up to the global stage to win a brilliant 10,000m silver at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
But it was at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships where Battocletti - and so many other of the continent’s finest middle and long distance runners - first made a name for herself, winning the U20 title in 2018 and 2019 before graduating to U23 gold in 2021 and 2022 and silver medal behind Grøvdal last year represented an auspicious debut in the competition's senior ranks.
Klosterhalfen and Can on the comeback trail
By contrast to Battocletti, Klosterhalfen missed the track season through illness but the 2022 European 5000m champion - who is also a former two-time European U20 cross country champion - is gradually returning to form, clocking a 67:07 half marathon in Valencia in October although she finished more than a minute behind Battocletti at the recent World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in Alcobendas, Spain.
Klosterhalfen is also at the forefront of a German team with a genuine chance of reclaiming the team title they won two years ago in Turin and their team also features reigning European indoor 3000m champion Hanna Klein who recently won the German cross country title and will also be in the conversation for an individual medal as well.
Klosterhalfen and Klein were both part of Germany’s gold medal-winning team in 2022, finishing second and fourth respectively in Turin where the Germans impressively filled four of the top six places in the individual race.
The wildcard in the race is Türkiye’s Yasemin Can who won an unmatched four successive titles between 2016-19, beating Grøvdal - who was looking to match Can’s record on Sunday - into silver or bronze on all four occasions.
Can has barely raced since her last appearance at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in 2022 when she was a DNF but the home favourite cannot be entirely discounted.
At 27, Can also still has time on her side to rekindle her career which included 10,000m gold at the 2022 European Athletics Championships.
Team medals up for grabs
The team title last year was won by Great Britain and their team in Antalya features last year’s bronze medallist Abbie Donnelly and Izzy Fry, the latter being the third counter of their gold medal-winning team in tenth place ast year.
However, the winner of an always-competitive trial race in Liverpool was former hockey international Kate Axford although the underfoot and weather conditions in Antalya are expected to be significantly different.
Italy, who surprisingly have never won a senior women's team medal, could potentially end that drought thanks to having Battocletti and the in-form European Athletics Championships 10,000m fourth-place finisher Federica Del Buono, who was also a mixed relay gold medallist at these championships two years ago, in their team.
Spain, team silver medallists in 2023, also have a squad that could stand on the podium again with two of their scorers from last year, Cristina Ruiz and Carolina Robles, who finished 13th and 16th respectively, back again.
And with only three counters to score, this brings the Swedish team into the conversation of the context of the team race.
Their team features the 2019 European cross country bronze medallist Samrawit Mengsteab and the very experienced Sarah Lahti who showed good form with her third successive victory at the Warandeloop in Tilburg last month.
Also watch out for Romania’s Delvine Meringor, who finished an excellent seventh in the marathon at the 2024 Olympic Games as well as fourth in the half marathon in Rome.
Steven Mills for European Athletics
The championships will be streamed in their entirety through the European Athletics website from 11:00 local time (09:00 CET/08:00 GMT) and will be accompanied by expert English-language commentary from two-time World Cross Country Championships silver medallist Tim Hutchings and 2011 World Athletics Championships 1500m silver medallist Hannah England.
There will also be extensive race day coverage of the championships on the European Athletics website and social media channels.
For those visiting Antalya, there are no ticket sales for this event. It is free to enter the venue and watch the competitions and medal ceremonies.