Everything you need to know about the European Cross Country Champs in Antalya on Sunday December 8
The 30th edition of the European Cross Country Championships will take place in Turkey this weekend, with the city of Antalya set to host Europe’s finest runners for the first time.
Great Britain enters the championships with an unmatched legacy, having claimed an impressive 188 medals since the event first started in 1994. Their dominance is evident, with France behind in second place with 106 medals.
Last year, the only British athletes to return without a medal were the senior men’s team, something they will be eager to change this time around.
Reigning champions Innes FitzGerald and Will Barnicoat are back to defend their titles. FitzGerald, who took the women’s under-20 crown last year, and Barnicoat, who triumphed in the men’s under-23 race, will both be eyeing another victory on the Antalya course.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen missed last year’s championships in Brussels due to injury but the Norwegian is returning this year. The 24-year-old, a four-time winner of the under-20 title between 2016 and 2019, clinched the senior men’s title in 2021 and 2022.
Norway will have hopes for a double victory in both senior races as Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal will be looking to secure a fourth consecutive women’s title. However, she will face tough competition from Italy’s Nadia Battocletti.
In the under-20 men’s race, Niels Laros of the Netherlands will be a standout contender after his impressive track season and will be hoping to cap off his junior career with a gold medal.
While the course in Antalya is expected to be far drier than the boggy conditions at this year’s Euro trials in Liverpool, it is across changing terrain from dirt road, grass, mud and sand. The weather is expected to be relatively mild, with a chance of rain adding an element of unpredictability.
Kate Axford and Tomer Tarragano take Euro trials victory in Liverpool
The event will be live streamed here while BBC is also showing the races on its red button with a highlights show on BBC2 at 4:05pm on Sunday.
Timetable (local times)
11:00 – U20 women (4814m)
11:29 – U20 men (4814m)
11:55 – Mixed relay (6324m; 1 x 1710m; 2 x 1510m; 1x 1594m)
12:25 – U23 women (6324m)
13:00 – U23 men (6324m)
13:31 – Senior women (7834m)
14:11 – Senior men (7834m)
Karoline Grovdal leads Abbie Donnelly in Brussels (Getty)
Senior women
Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal is no stranger to success at the championships. Having claimed the under-20 title back in 2009, the Norwegian has since captured senior victories in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The 34-year-old’s remarkable career is highlighted by a record-breaking 10 individual medals at the Euro Cross as well as breaking Ingrid Kristiansen’s long-standing national 5000m record by six seconds in 2021 with 14:31.07.
Last year in Brussels, Grøvdal stormed ahead of Italy’s Nadia Battocletti with a decisive move on an uphill section of the final lap. She finished 45 seconds ahead of Battocletti, securing her 10th European Cross medal overall.
She is one of only three athletes to have won three consecutive titles, joining Turkey’s Yasemin Can, who reigned from 2016 to 2019 in the senior women’s category, and Ukraine’s Sergiy Lebid, a nine-time senior men’s champion.
Nadia Battocletti (Getty)
But this year, Grøvdal faces a serious challenge from Battocletti, who has been almost unstoppable lately. The under-23 Euro Cross winner in 2021 has had an incredible track season, winning the 5000m and 10,000m at the European Championships on home soil in Rome as she ended her season with an Olympic silver medal in the 10,000m.
As Grøvdal aims for a fourth consecutive title, it will be entertaining to see how the two women match up in what promises to be a thrilling showdown.
The British team also boasts potential podium contenders. Abbie Donnelly, who secured bronze last year, will be looking to build on her breakthrough performance after earning her first individual medal at the championships.
Kate Axford and Abbie Donnelly (Gary Mitchell)
Kate Axford, who triumphed over Donnelly at the Euro Trials, is another British athlete to watch as she makes her GB vest debut.
GB team: Kate Axford; Abbie Donnelly; Izzy Fry; Jess Gibbon; Cari Hughes; Poppy Tank
Senior men
After missing last year’s championships due to injury, Olympic 5000m gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen is aiming for his third senior cross country title and his seventh individual gold medal overall.
Ingebrigtsen will be joined on the Norwegian team by his older brother Filip, the 2018 European cross-country champion, along with last year’s individual silver medallist Magnus Tuv Myhre. Together, the trio could make a strong bid for the team title.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Mark Shearman)
The competition is still fierce as France’s Yann Schrub will be looking to make his mark once again after claiming victory in the senior men’s race last year.
After winning the title for the first time, he has since followed it up with a silver medal at the European Championships in Rome this year, finishing behind Dominic Lobalu in the men’s 10,000m.
Another reigning European champion is Yeman Crippa who will be making his 12th successive appearance at the European Cross – he won under-20 gold in 2014 and 2015.
Crippa won individual and team gold in the half-marathon at the European Championships this year before competing in the marathon at the Olympic Games.
Robin Hendrix, who finished third on the podium in Brussels and helped Belgium secure team gold, will also be another contender. Isaac Kimeli, who was born in Kenya but moved to Belgium when he was 15, will be another name to watch after winning a silver medal at the 2018 Euro Cross and a bronze medal in the 2022 edition.
Liverpool Cross Challenge men’s leaders (Gary Mitchell)
Also in the mix are British athletes Hugo Milner and Tomer Tarragano. Milner, whose No.1 sport is triathlon, impressed last year by staying in contention with Schrub throughout the race, settling for fourth place in the end.
Although Milner looked in strong form at the Euro Trials earlier this month, he lost his title to Tarragano, who will also be making the trip to Turkey.
Absent from trials was Zak Mahamed. The under-23 silver medallist in 2023 was given a discretionary place on the team and will be hoping to improve on his 27th place last year after a strong season.
GB team: Scott Beattie; Ellis Cross; Rory Leonard; Zak Mahamed; Hugo Milner; Tomer Tarragano
Under-23 women
With last year’s winner, Megan Keith of Great Britain, absent from this year’s under-23 women’s race, the competition is wide open, leaving the title up for grabs.
Leading the field is Finland’s Ilona Mononen, who claimed silver behind Keith in 2023. At just 20 years old, Mononen has had an impressive 2024 season, setting a national record of 9:23.28 in the 3000m steeplechase at the European Championships. She also made her Olympic debut in Paris, competing in the 3000m steeplechase heats.
The absence of Keith also presents a significant opportunity for Spain’s Angela Viciosa, who narrowly missed a podium finish last year with a fourth-place result. Viciosa will be eager to secure her first major international medal.
Another contender is Maria Forero, the 2022 under-20 champion, who earned silver in the European under-23 5000m race behind Keith last year. Forero will be aiming to improve on that performance and break into the top spots once again.
The British team will feature some newcomers to the European scene. Among those returning to the event are Tia Wilson, who finished 34th in the under-23 race last year, and Phoebe Anderson, who placed 17th in the under-20 race back in 2021.
GB team: Phoebe Anderson; Poppy Craig-McFeely; Megan Gadsby; Mia Waldmann; Kate Willis; Tia Wilson
Will Barnicoat (Getty)
Under-23 men
In previous years, British athletes have dominated the under-23 men’s race, with Charles Hicks claiming the title in 2021 and 2022 and Will Barnicoat upgrading his 2022 under-20 gold to a under-23 victory last year.
This time, Barnicoat will not have to contend with last year’s runner-up, France’s Valentin Bresc. However, that doesn’t mean the win will come easily. Barnicoat will need to keep a close eye on his own GB team-mate, David Stone, who defeated him at the Euro trials in Liverpool.
For Stone, the Euro Cross will be just his second race of the year, after missing last year’s championships due to an injury that required two surgeries. His last full competitive season was in 2019 as a promising youngster.
With both Barnicoat and Stone in strong form, the team will be aiming to retain their team gold they won last year.
Nick Griggs (Getty)
But the Brits will face strong competition. Ireland’s Nick Griggs, who recently set a parkrun “world record” of 13:44, is in excellent shape and will be a threat. Barnicoat and Griggs have gone head-to-head before, with Griggs in contention for under-20 gold in 2022, only to stumble in the final stretch as Barnicoat surged to victory.
Another athlete to watch is Denmark’s Axel Vang Christensen, who claimed the under-20 title last year and now moves up an age category.
GB team: Will Barnicoat; Dafydd Jones; James Kingston; Peter Molloy; Brett Rushman; David Stone
Under-20 women
Great Britain’s Innes FitzGerald, the reigning European under-20 cross-country champion, produced a dominant 19-second victory in Brussels 12 months ago and will be aiming to become the fourth woman to win back-to-back titles since the under-20 race became an official medal event in 1997.
Innes FitzGerald (Gary Mitchell)
The 18-year-old recently secured a convincing win at the Euro trials, finishing 31 seconds ahead of Jess Bailey, who placed eighth in Brussels and will also be part of the British team.
The podium from last year’s championships will be reunited in Antalya, with Denmark’s Sofia Thøgersen and France’s Jade Le Corre, who finished second and third respectively in 2023, set to challenge FitzGerald once again.
Thøgersen, the 2022 European under-18 3000m champion, is still in search of her first under-20 continental title after earning silver in the 1500m and bronze in the 5000m in the 2023 European Under-20 Championships.
She also missed out on a podium place at the World Under-20 Championships in Lima this year, where she finished just behind FitzGerald in fifth, with FitzGerald fourth.
Sofia Thøgersen (centre) with Jess Bailey (right) and Edibe Yagiz (Getty)
With FitzGerald and Bailey on the team, Great Britain will be the team to beat, making them the favourites for the team title. If they secure gold, it will be their record-extending 18th team title in the under-20 women’s race.
GB team: Jess Bailey; Innes FitzGerald; Zoe Gilbody; Isobelle Jones; Eleanor Strevens; Lizzie Wellsted
Under-20 men
Last year in Brussels, after an outstanding double at the European Under-20 Championships, Dutch athlete Niels Laros found himself narrowly outsprinted by 2021 champion Axel Vang Christensen. With Christensen now moving up an age group, Laros will be hoping to emerge as the favourite on this year’s course.
Niels Laros (Getty)
Laros’ 2024 season has been exceptional, highlighted by a European under-20 1500m record of 3:29.56, which earned him sixth place in the Olympic final in Paris. He also set a world under-20 and European under-23 record 1000m record of 2:14.37 in Hengelo.
Another to watch will be Sweden’s Karl Ottfalk, who was just 17 when he finished fourth in Brussels last year and has continued to smash his personal bests across various distances this summer. He also finished sixth in the 3000m final at the World Under-20 Championships.
For Great Britain’s Henry Dover, he will be looking to improve last year’s sixth place and a team silver medal. He recently won the under-20 race in Liverpool and will now have his eyes set on the podium.
Great Britain will also be looking to reclaim the team title they held for three consecutive years from 2019 to 2022 after Ireland won it last year.
Henry Dover (Gary Mitchell)
Czech’s Filip Toul and Serbia’s Aldin Catovic, who each took gold in the 1500m and 3000m respectively at the European Under-18 Championships this July, will also be among the key challengers in the competitive field.
GB team: Oliver Conway; George Couttie; Henry Dover; Quinn Miell-Ingram; William Rabjohns; Miles Waterworth
Mixed relay
In the brief history of this event, Great Britain is the most successful nation with three victories (Šamorín 2017, Lisbon 2019, Dublin 2021).
However, last year, France and the Netherlands both hunted down Great Britain in the closing straight as France grabbed their first ever victory in this event.
The French team includes Antoine Senard, the only returning member of their gold medal-winning team, but their strongest runner based on track performances is Agathe Guillemot who finished ninth in the Olympic 1500m final.
Josh Lay, who ran the opening leg in Brussels when Britain settled for bronze, will return alongside Maddie Deadman who won the women’s trial.
GB team: Tyler Bilyard; Maddie Deadman; Joshua Lay; Elise Thorner
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