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 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Organisers | EAA |
| Edition | 20th |
| Date | 8 December |
| Host city | Belgrade, Serbia |
| Events | 6 |
| Distances | 9.880 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
editSenior men
edit| 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 |
| 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
edit| 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 |
| 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
edit| 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 |
| 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
edit| 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 |
| 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
edit| 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 |
| 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
edit| 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 |
| 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
edit| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Britain (GBR) | 5 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| 2 | France (FRA) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Spain (ESP) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Belgium (BEL) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Turkey (TUR) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Netherlands (NED) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | Russia (RUS) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | Serbia (SRB) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Poland (POL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Ukraine (UKR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 13 | Germany (GER) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Italy (ITA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Portugal (POR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Slovenia (SLO) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (16 entries) | 12 | 12 | 12 | 36 | |
References
edit- ^ Results by date Archived 10 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ President Wirz celebrates the cross country movement. European Athletics (7 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Britton has Belgrade – and only Belgrade – on her mind. European Athletics (7 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Mulkeen, Jon (8 December 2013). Third time lucky for Duarte at European Cross as Bezabeh regains title. IAAF. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Duarte is the toast of France. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Chahdi and Meucci return for the grand finale. European Athletics (7 December 2012). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Bezabeh runs away to victory as Arikan recovers in style. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Hannes shows what he is made of. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Hassan's Dutch delight as Terzic brings joy to Serbia. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Kaya's late speed takes him to gold in a thriller. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Gorecka strolls away to win gold again. European Athletics (8 December 2013). Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Foley, Cliona (9 December 2013). Irish runners call for halt to African recruitment by European countries. The Irish Independent. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ Kelly, Feidhlim (10 December 2013). European Cross Conundrum Archived 17 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Jumping the Gun. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ 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.