2013 European Cross Country Championships

The 2013 European Cross Country Championships was the 20th edition of the cross country running competition for European athletes which was held in Belgrade, Serbia, on 8 December 2013. The senior individual winners were Alemayehu Bezabeh of Spain and Sophie Duarte of France.[1] A record 571 runners from 37 nations entered the competition, making it Serbia's largest international athletics event in over forty years.[2]

2013 European Cross Country Championships
OrganisersEAA
Edition20th
Date8 December
Host cityBelgrade, Serbia
Events6
Distances9.880 km – Men
8.050 km – Women
8.050 km – U23 men
6.025 km – U23 women
6.025 km – Junior men
4.000 km – Junior women

In the women's senior race Ireland's Fionnuala Britton was the defending champion,[3] but she failed to win a third straight title and ended the race in fourth. Sophie Duarte took the lead in the penultimate lap and ran on her own over the last lap to take her first European gold medal at the age of 32. The 2011 minor medallists Ana Dulce Félix of Portugal and Great Britain's Gemma Steel closely raced each other in the final lap, with the British runner gaining the edge over the Portuguese on this occasion. Steel headed the British women to the team title, while Duarte led France to second and Spain took the bronze medals.[4][5]

Andrea Lalli entered the men's senior race as champion and fellow 2012 medallists Hassan Chahdi and Daniele Meucci were also present.[6] None of the three reached the podium on this occasion. The leading pack was soon whittled to two runners: 2009 champion Alemayehu Bezabeh and (despite an early fall) Polat Kemboi Arıkan of Turkey. Bezabeh extended his lead to over twenty seconds by the time he crossed the finish line. Arıkan was a clear second and British athlete Andy Vernon produced a fast finish to edge Belgium's Jeroen D'Hoedt to the bronze medal. Bezabeh headed up the Spanish team victory, followed by D'Hoedt's Belgium and Vernon's British side.[7]

In the under-23 races Pieter-Jan Hannes of Belgium won the men's race and Great Britain topped the team rankings.[8] Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands was dominant in the women's under-23 race, where the British under-23 team easily won the team gold with five women in the top eight.[9] The junior men's race saw Turkey's Ali Kaya come out on top in a two-man race against Belgium's Isaac Kimeli.[10] Women's junior champion Emelia Gorecka won a fourth straight junior team title for Great Britain and also her fourth straight podium finish (she previously won the title in 2011). She was unrivalled and won by a margin of ten seconds.[11]

Three of the six event winners (Alemayehu Bezabeh, Sifan Hassan and Ali Kaya) were born in East Africa and gained European citizenship. Three of the individual silver medallists were also born outside of Europe: Arıkan in the men's senior race, Kimeli in the men's junior race, and Sofia Ennaoui in the women's junior race. This prompted concern of growing African participation in the European event – the falling interest in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, partly due to a prolonged period of African dominance of the competition, had recently led to the world event being reduced to a biennial event.[12][13] Excitement over Bezabeh's large margin of victory was also tempered by discussion of his doping ban stemming from Operación Galgo, which had expired at the beginning of the year.[14]

Race results

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Senior men

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Individual race
Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s)
  Alemayehu Bezabeh   Spain 29:11
  Polat Kemboi Arıkan   Turkey 29:32
  Andy Vernon   Great Britain 29:35
4 Jeroen D'Hoedt   Belgium 29:35
5 Hassan Chahdi   France 29:40
6 Mohamed Marhum   Spain 29:46
7 Richard Ringer   Germany 29:49
8 Bashir Abdi   Belgium 29:53
9 Koen Naert   Belgium 29:54
10 El Hassane Ben Lkhainouch   France 29:56
11 Iván Fernández   Spain 29:58
12 Tom Farrell   Great Britain 29:59
Teams
Rank Team Points
    Spain
Bezabeh
Marhum
Fernández
Antonio Dávid Jímenez
Antonio Abadía
Javier Guerra
31
    Belgium
D'Hoedt
Abdi
Naert
Soufiane Bouchikhi
Lander Tijtgat
Abdelhadi El Hachimi
49
    Great Britain
Vernon
Farrell
Keith Gerrard
Adam Hickey
Charlie Hulson
Frank Tickner
60
4   France 66
5   Germany 69
6   Ireland 90
7   Turkey 105
8   Italy 151

Senior women

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Individual race
Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s)
  Sophie Duarte   France 26:34
  Gemma Steel   Great Britain 26:39
  Dulce Félix   Portugal 26:41
4 Fionnuala Britton   Ireland 26:45
5 Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal   Norway 26:52
6 Almensh Belete   Belgium 27:00
7 Julia Bleasdale   Great Britain 27:02
8 Veronica Inglese   Italy 27:12
9 Carla Salomé Rocha   Portugal 27:13
10 Iris Maria Fuentes-Pila   Spain 27:17
11 Lauren Howarth   Great Britain 27:18
12 Clémence Calvin   France 27:25
Teams
Rank Team Points
    Great Britain
Steel
Bleasdale
Howarth
Steph Twell
Katie Brough
Lauren Deadman
35
    France
Duarte
Calvin
Christine Bardelle
Laila Traby
Laurane Picoche
Claire Perraux
54
    Spain
Fuentes-Pila
Diana Martín
Lidia Rodríguez
Marta Silvestre
Teresa Urbina
Alba García
61
4   Italy 97
5   Portugal 109
6   Ireland 115
7   Turkey 117
8   Czech Republic 197

Under-23 men

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Individual race
Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s)
  Pieter-Jan Hannes   Belgium 24:02
  Mitko Tsenov   Bulgaria 24:07
  Nemanja Cerovac   Serbia 24:08
4 Ivan Strebkov   Ukraine 24:10
5 Luke Caldwell   Great Britain 24:13
6 Ørjan Grønnevig   Norway 24:15
7 Callum Hawkins   Great Britain 24:18
8 Michele Fontana   Italy 24:19
9 Paul Robinson   Ireland 24:22
10 Henrik Ingebrigtsen   Norway 24:23
11 Dmytro Siruk   Ukraine 24:23
12 Jonathan Hay   Great Britain 24:24
Teams
Rank Team Points
    Great Britain
Caldwell
Hawkins
Hay
Dewi Griffiths
Richard Goodman
Jack Goodwin
40
    Ukraine
Strebkov
Siruk
Oleksandr Kuzmichov
Igor Porozov
72
    France
Romain Collenot-Spriet
Francois Barrer
Djilali Bedrani
Youssef Mekdafou
Michael Gras
Sofiane Boulekouane
78

Under-23 women

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Individual race
Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s)
  Sifan Hassan   Netherlands 19:40
  Amela Terzić   Serbia 19:46
  Charlotte Purdue   Great Britain 19:49
4 Kate Avery   Great Britain 19:56
5 Lily Partridge   Great Britain 20:10
6 Liv Westphal   France 20:21
7 Rhona Auckland   Great Britain 20:25
8 Laura Weightman   Great Britain 20:28
9 Corinna Harrer   Germany 20:32
10 Gulshat Fazlitdinova   Russia 20:37
11 Ekaterina Sokolenko   Russia 20:45
12 Svetlana Riazantceva   Russia 20:47
Teams
Rank Team Points
    Great Britain
Purdue
Avery
Partridge
Auckland
Weightman
Jess Andrews
19
    Russia
Fazlitdinova
Sokolenko
Riazantceva
Luiza Litvinova
Anna Fedorova
54
    Netherlands
Hassan
Maureen Koster
Irene Van Lieshout
Marlin Van Hal
70

Junior men

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Individual race
Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s)
  Ali Kaya   Turkey 17:49
  Isaac Kimeli   Belgium 17:51
  Mikhail Strelkov   Russia 18:05
4 Jonathan Davies   Great Britain 18:06
5 Lorenzo Dini   Italy 18:06
6 Alexandre Saddedine   France 18:12
7 Yemaneberhan Crippa   Italy 18:14
8 Steven Casteele   Belgium 18:16
9 Seán Tobin   Ireland 18:18
10 Viktor Bakharev   Russia 18:20
11 Aleksandr Novikov   Russia 18:22
12 Medhi Belhadj   France 18:22
Teams
Rank Team Points
    France
Saddedine
Belhadj
Alexis Miellet
Maxime Hueber Moosbrugger
Theodore Klein
Hamza Habjaoui
48
    Russia
Strelkov
Bakharev
Novikov
Vildan Gadelshin
Alexey Vikulov
51
    Italy
Lorenzo Dini
Yemaneberhan Crippa
Samuele Dini
Nekagenet Crippa
Osama Zoghlami
Italo Quazzola
55

Junior women

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Individual race
Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s)
  Emelia Gorecka   Great Britain 13:06
  Sofia Ennaoui   Poland 13:16
  Maruša Mišmaš   Slovenia 13:27
4 Georgia Taylor-Brown   Great Britain 13:31
5 Alina Reh   Germany 13:34
6 Aleksandra Guliaeva   Russia 13:38
7 Maria Larsson   Sweden 13:39
8 Bobby Clay   Great Britain 13:40
9 Emine Hatun Tuna   Turkey 13:40
10 Maya Rehberg   Germany 13:41
11 Jessica Gibbon   Great Britain 13:41
12 Ebba Andersson   Sweden 13:44
Teams
Rank Team Points
    Great Britain
Gorecka
Taylor-Brown
Clay
Gibbon
Lydia Turner
Amy Griffiths
24
    Sweden
Larsson
Andersson
Isabelle Brauer
Tova Euren-Magnussen
Agnes Sjostrom
75
    Germany
Reh
Rehberg
Caerina Granz
Vera Coutellier
Lea Meyer
Tatjana Schulte
95

Medal table

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Great Britain (GBR)5139
2  France (FRA)2114
3  Spain (ESP)2013
4  Belgium (BEL)1203
5  Turkey (TUR)1102
6  Netherlands (NED)1012
7  Russia (RUS)0213
8  Serbia (SRB)0112
9  Bulgaria (BUL)0101
  Poland (POL)0101
  Sweden (SWE)0101
  Ukraine (UKR)0101
13  Germany (GER)0011
  Italy (ITA)0011
  Portugal (POR)0011
  Slovenia (SLO)0011
Totals (16 entries)12121236

References

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  1. ^ Results by date Archived 10 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ President Wirz celebrates the cross country movement. European Athletics (7 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  3. ^ Britton has Belgrade – and only Belgrade – on her mind. European Athletics (7 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  4. ^ Mulkeen, Jon (8 December 2013). Third time lucky for Duarte at European Cross as Bezabeh regains title. IAAF. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  5. ^ Duarte is the toast of France. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  6. ^ Chahdi and Meucci return for the grand finale. European Athletics (7 December 2012). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  7. ^ Bezabeh runs away to victory as Arikan recovers in style. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  8. ^ Hannes shows what he is made of. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  9. ^ Hassan's Dutch delight as Terzic brings joy to Serbia. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  10. ^ Kaya's late speed takes him to gold in a thriller. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  11. ^ Gorecka strolls away to win gold again. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  12. ^ Foley, Cliona (9 December 2013). Irish runners call for halt to African recruitment by European countries. The Irish Independent. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  13. ^ Kelly, Feidhlim (10 December 2013). European Cross Conundrum Archived 17 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Jumping the Gun. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  14. ^ MacKay, Duncan (8 December 2013). Spanish drugs cheat wins European Cross Country title by biggest margin for nine years. Inside The Games. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
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