ANTALYA, TÜRKIYE, December 08 — Just over 2 months following Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s wrap on his ’24 track season with a win in the DL Final 1500, the Norwegian returned to racing at the European Cross Country Championships with a win. The effort brought the 24-year-old Olympic 5000 gold medalist his third Euro Cross senior crown and seventh overall including four U20 wins 2016–19.
Racing patiently and with apparent ease over the 5-lap, 7238m (4.87M) route in Dokuma Park, Ingebrigtsen bided his time until half of the fourth lap had passed before pulling away to win in 22:16 from Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa (22:24), Thierry Ndikumwenayo of Spain (22:31), Isaac Kimeli of Belgium (22:33) and Ingebrigtsen’s sometime training partner Andreas Almgren of Sweden (22:34).
Great Britain’s Hugo Milner, who eventually finished 11th, did most of the early leading from a large pack traversing rolling terrain with occasional patches of loose dirt and short barriers to step over. Laps 2 and 3 each went in 4:26 with Ingebrigtsen always just off the lead. But when the Norwegian great, still just 24, asserted himself the split for lap 4 dropped to 4:20.
Crippa, twice a Euro U20 winner and the Senior bronze medalist in ’19, moved up front with a lap to run, gamely yet unsuccessfully trying to put daylight on Ingebrigtsen. With a kilo to run, the race’s star had had enough. With form not much different from what he shows in a pack on the track, Ingebrigtsen rapidly built a 5–6m margin and then grew it from there. He swiveled his head frequently, alert for a surprise attack that never came.
“There’s something special about cross country,” said the winner, “being more than a hundred people on the same start line and, you know, all of us fighting in the first 15 seconds to get good positions. And the course is always, you know, tough, a lot of technical obstacles. So you really have to use your energy wisely and try to maneuver. But still it’s a long race so you have to save something for the last lap. And you know, European running has never been better. So I always have to be at my best and prepare good, and hopefully get a good fight with the other runners.”
Adding that he relishes frequent competition for the psychological sharpness it imparts to his training, Ingebrigtsen observed, “For me it’s very important to always have something to look forward to.”
Asked what he envisions for himself 10 years hence, Ingebrigtsen replied, “Ten more appearances in European Cross Country… I think it’s important to always have something to chase.”
Spain put up a formidable 18-point win over Belgium’s tally of 37 as 3 athletes scored per nation.
Battocletti Closes Dream Season With A Win
Italy’s Olympics 10,000 silver medalist Nadia Battocletti finished her dream season by adding the Euro harrier title to continental track golds at 5000 and 10,000 won before worshipful home fans in Rome back in June.
The win for Battocletti, a 22-year-old engineering student, was her fifth following U20 titles in ’18 & 19 and U23 golds in ’21 & ’22.
Racing the same distance as the men, Battocletti finished in 25:43, 11 seconds up on comebacking German Konstanze Klosterhalfen (25:54) and host nation fave Yasemin Can (26:01), who at four previous editions won the title.
The race saw a surprise bid for a steal from judoka-turned-marathoner Marion Trapp. The Frenchwoman pushed to a lead of as much as 50m on the first lap and then held it over the second before being swallowed by the main group with 2 circuits remaining.
Entering the final 1510m lap Battocletti went to work like a surgeon, carving out a lead that was joined by Klosterhalfen and Can trailing close behind. Looking light over the country, the Italian inexorably opened daylight and had energy to flash smiles over the finish straight.
Said the winner, “When I saw the French girl start to push, I preferred to come not as fast as she run — also because the race was so long.
“And then when we caught her, I started to do a tactical race to understand how the other girls are. And then in the last lap I don’t know what happened in my mind, but I started thinking, ‘OK, we can do it so stay focused and push, push, push.’”
Into the bargain, Battocletti keyed a team win for the Italian women by 3 points over Great Britain.
The two Junior (U20) races played out quite differently from each other. In the men’s contest the Netherlands’ 3:29 teen Niels Laros outkicked Great Britain’s George Couttie in a fierce duel over the final 250m. The women’s race was a relative runaway and a repeat victory for Great Britain’s Innes FitzGerald, leading a 1-2-3 perfect-score finish for her team.
EURO XC CHAMPS MEN
Teams: 1. Spain 18; 2. Belgium 37; 3. Great Britain 39; 4. France 40; 5. Norway 48.
Individuals (7.83K): 1. Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Nor) 22:16; 2. Yemaneberhan Crippa (Ita) 22:24; 3. Thierry Ndikumwenayo (Spa) 22:31; 4. Isaac Kimeli (Bel) 22:33; 5. Andreas Almgren (Swe) 22:34; 6. Yann Schrub (Fra) 22:35; 7. Nassim Hassaous (Spa) 22:44; 8. Abdessamad Oukhelfen (Spa) 22:45; 9. Rory Leonard (GB) 22:45; 10. Adel Mechaal (Spa) 22:47; 11. Hugo Milner (GB) 22:48; 12. Valentin Gondouin (Fra) 22:49; 13. Miguel Moreira (Por) 22:51; 14. Aaron Las Heras (Spa) 22:51; 15. John Heymans (Bel) 22:51; 16. Simon Sundström (Swe) 22:52; 17. Markus Görger (Ger) 22:53; 18. Robin Hendrix (Bel) 22:57; 19. Tomer Tarragano (GB) 22:58; 20. Filip Ingebrigtsen (Nor) 22:59; 21. Cormac Dalton (Ire) 23:03; 22. Alexis Miellet (Fra) 23:04; 23. Davor Aaron Bienenfeld (Ger) 23:04; 24. Ruben Querinjean (Lux) 23:06; 25. Ellis Cross (GB) 23:07.
U20 Teams: 1. Netherlands 20; 2. France 40; 3. Great Britain 42.
U20 Individuals (4.81K): 1. Niels Laros (Neth) 14:07; 2. George Couttie (GB) 14:09; 3. Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen (Nor) 14:16; 4. Magnus Øyen (Nor) 14:16; 5. Karl Ottfalk (Swe) 14.18.
EURO XC CHAMPS WOMEN
Teams: 1. Italy 33; 2. Great Britain 36; 3. Belgium 46; 4. Türkiye 48; 5. France 52.
Individuals (7.83K): 1. Nadia Battocletti (Ita) 25:43; 2. Konstanze Klosterhalfen (Ger) 25:54; 3. Yasemin Can (Tur) 26:01; 4. Delvine Meringor (Rom) 26:03; 5. Jana Van Lent (Bel) 26:04; 6. Mariana Machado (Por) 26:13; 7. Sarah Lahti (Swe) 26:16; 8. Manon Trapp (Fra) 26:17; 9. Flavie Renouard (Fra) 26:19; 10. Kate Axford (GB) 26:20; 11. Niamh Allen (Ire) 26:20; 12. Jessica Gibbon (GB) 26:21; 13. Elisa Palmero (Ita) 26:25; 14. Izzy Fry (GB) 26:27;
U20 Teams: 1. Great Britain 9; 2. France 39; 3. Italy 44.
U20 Individuals (4.81K): 1. Innes FitzGerald (GB) 15:47; 2. Jess Bailey (GB) 15:58; 3. Sofia Thøgersen (Den) 16:03; 4. Julia Ehrle (Ger) 16:03; 5. Jade Le Corre (Fra) 16:18.
