With one month to go until the European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships in Annecy, France the host nation have named a strong team that is expected to challenge for medals in many of the races.
The second edition of the championships brings together the continent’s finest mountain and trail runners on the spectacular courses in the French Alps across three days on 31 May-2 June.
Proven winners in French team
Nearly 500 runners are expected to compete over ten challenging disciplines on mountainous and trail terrain in senior and U20 male and female classes. And the host nation will be there in force with a full quota of competitors across all disciplines.
All eyes with be on hometown runner Benjamin Roubiol, gold medallist in the long trail event at the 2023 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Innsbruck, Austria.
Few runners in Annecy will know the contours of the course quite like Roubiol. European bronze medallist from the 2022 event in El Paso, La Palma, Spain Thomas Cardin is also in the French team.
In Blandine L'Hirondel and Clementine Geoffray, France also has two proven winners.
L’Hirondel is defending champion in the women’s trail race whilst Geoffray was the women’s short trail winner at last year’s World Mountain and Trail Running Championships The trail races are a leg sapping 62km skirting the mountainside of the shimmering Lake Annecy.
@: Tertrais/FFA
Théodore Klein and Nélie Clément were the men's and women's senior race winners at the French Mountain Running Championships in Briançon on Sunday (28) and both will boldly take on the vertical and up-and-down disciplines with a single rest day in-between.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics
