Running News Daily

Polish distance runner Ela Glinka produced the performance of her career at the European 10,000m Cup in Spezia, Italy, capturing a historic gold medal while smashing her personal best in a remarkable display of determination and resilience.

Glinka crossed the finish line in an outstanding 31:45.37, a time that not only marked a significant personal breakthrough but also secured the qualifying standard for the upcoming European Championships in Birmingham. Her victory added another memorable chapter to Polish athletics, earning the nation a prestigious gold medal on one of Europe's biggest distance-running stages.

The achievement carried far greater significance than the medal itself. As the Polish national anthem echoed across the podium during the medal ceremony, it symbolized the culmination of years of relentless effort, sacrifice, and unwavering belief. Behind the golden moment stood countless training sessions, difficult setbacks, periods of self-doubt, and the courage to continually search for solutions when progress seemed elusive.

For Glinka, the road to Spezia was far from straightforward. Like many elite athletes, she faced moments when success appeared distant, requiring her to take risks, invest in her development, and push through barriers that might have discouraged others. Yet those challenges ultimately became the foundation of her breakthrough performance.

Her victory in Italy now stands as one of the most significant achievements of her career and a proud milestone for Polish athletics. More importantly, it serves as proof that persistence can transform years of hard work into unforgettable success.

With her European Championship qualification secured and confidence at an all-time high, Glinka's historic triumph in Spezia may prove to be only the beginning of an even greater chapter. The gold medal is a reward for everything she has overcome—but it is also a powerful source of motivation for what lies ahead.

The 2026 edition of the 10K Villa de Laredo unfolded as a celebration of elite road running, blending dominant victories with record-breaking brilliance on the streets of Laredo.

In the men’s race, Ethiopia’s Biniam Mehary Abay delivered a performance of remarkable authority, storming to victory in 26:54. His run was anything but straightforward. After losing his pacemaker before the 3km mark, Mehary was forced to navigate the remainder of the race alone—yet what followed was a display of composure and relentless drive.

Undeterred, he pressed on at an unforgiving pace, even flirting with the long-standing world record of 26:24 set by Kenya’s Rhonex Kipruto in Valencia. Though the mark ultimately remained out of reach, Mehary’s solo charge elevated the race into a compelling exhibition of courage and rising dominance on the global stage.

Behind him, Hagos Eyob Gared secured second place in 27:54, while Britain’s Rory Leonard followed closely in 27:56. Spain’s Miguel Ángel Martínez thrilled the home supporters with a strong fourth-place finish in 28:00, and Italy’s Pasquale Selvarolo completed the top five in 28:02.

Yet, if Mehary commanded the men’s race, the women’s event delivered a moment of historic significance. Slovenia’s Klara Lukan etched her name into the record books with a sensational 29:50 performance, breaking the European record and becoming the first European woman ever to run under the 30-minute barrier on the roads.

Lukan’s landmark run not only redefined continental standards but also underscored the growing depth and quality of women’s distance running in Europe. Her performance, executed with precision and fearless pacing, added a layer of prestige to an already electrifying night.

Together, the races in Laredo painted a vivid picture of modern road running at its finest—where ambition meets execution, and where history is never far from being rewritten.

The Urban Trail Lille 2026 is set to deliver one of the most compelling matchups of the road racing season, as Nadia Battocletti and Agnès Ngetich go head-to-head in a headline 10km clash that promises both intensity and history in the making.

Both athletes are officially confirmed for Saturday’s elite field, instantly elevating the race into a global spectacle. Battocletti arrives in formidable form, her résumé continuing to expand with remarkable consistency. The Italian star has cemented her place among the world’s elite, combining championship pedigree with tactical precision, highlighted by her recent world indoor title and Olympic silver medal over 10,000 metres.

Across the start line stands Ngetich, a dominant force on the roads and the current world record holder over 10km with a staggering 28:46. The Kenyan has built her reputation on fearless, high-tempo racing, often turning elite contests into solo exhibitions of strength and endurance. Her command of pace and rhythm makes her particularly dangerous on flat, fast courses like Lille, where conditions are primed for exceptional performances.

This meeting brings together two contrasting yet equally formidable profiles: Battocletti, the calculated racer with a devastating finishing gear, and Ngetich, the relentless frontrunner capable of stretching the field from the opening kilometres. It is precisely this dynamic that adds intrigue to the contest—whether the race unfolds as a tactical battle or a sustained assault on the clock.

Beyond the headline duel, the broader field adds further depth and unpredictability. With quality athletes expected to push the tempo from early on, the conditions could align perfectly for fast times. Battocletti, in particular, may have her sights set on the European 10km record of 30:07, a mark that could come under serious pressure if the race develops at an honest pace.

Lille has built a reputation as a stage for speed, and this edition appears no different. With two of the sport’s brightest stars leading the charge, the 2026 Urban Trail Lille 10km is shaping up to be more than just a race—it is a defining moment where ambition, rivalry, and performance converge at the highest level.

One year after electrifying the streets of Lille with a stunning European 5km record, Jimmy Gressier is returning to familiar ground with an even bigger ambition — rewriting the world record books.

On April 4, at the Urban Trail de Lille, the reigning world 10,000m champion will attempt to lower the global 5km mark of 12:49, currently held by Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi. It’s a bold pursuit, one that demands not only peak physical condition but an unshakable mental edge — something Gressier appears to have fully embraced.

Having clocked a remarkable 12:57 in Lille last year to set a new European standard, the French star now returns sharper, more focused, and deeply committed to pushing beyond his limits. His preparation has been meticulous, almost monastic in discipline.

“I don’t know if I’ll succeed, but I know I’ll do everything I can to reach the very top,” Gressier revealed. “I’m careful about what I eat, I go to bed early, I stay well hydrated, and I think only about running. Nothing else can distract me. That’s my mindset. I’m chasing the holy grail.”

That “holy grail” is not just a time — it’s a statement. Breaking the world record would cement Gressier’s place among the sport’s modern greats and further elevate Europe’s standing in long-distance running.

But the spotlight in Lille won’t shine on him alone.

European 10km champion Yann Schrub is also set to line up in the 5km, bringing both pedigree and competitive fire to an already stacked field. Meanwhile, Etienne Daguinos will turn his attention to the 10km, chasing a personal breakthrough as he targets his first-ever sub-27-minute performance — a barrier that separates the elite from the exceptional.

The Urban Trail de Lille, known for its electric atmosphere and fast, spectator-lined course, is quickly becoming a stage for historic performances. This year, it promises another chapter of high drama, where ambition meets opportunity on the narrow streets of northern France.

As the clock ticks down to race day, all eyes will be on Gressier — a man on a mission, driven by discipline, fueled by belief, and daring to chase what many consider untouchable.

Because in Lille, history isn’t just remembered — it’s made.

On Sunday, February 22, 2026, the streets of Castelló, Spain, could become the stage for something extraordinary. Sweden’s distance sensation Andreas Almgren is set to attack the 10-kilometre distance once again — and this time, the target is nothing short of historic. Reports suggest he will be chasing a time under 26:40, a mark that edges dangerously close to global supremacy.

Almgren arrives in Castelló carrying the weight of momentum and the confidence of an athlete operating at the very peak of his powers. Earlier this January in Valencia, he shattered his own European 10km record, clocking a breathtaking 26:45. That performance was not an isolated flash of brilliance; it was another link in an impressive chain of continental records he has forged in recent seasons.

His résumé now reads like a masterclass in modern distance running. A blistering 12:44 for 5km. A commanding 26:45 for 10km. A superb 58:41 in the half marathon. Each mark underlines not only speed, but also remarkable strength and endurance — the rare blend required to flirt with world-record territory.

What makes Almgren especially dangerous is his fearless front-running style. He does not wait. He dictates. He stretches the field, dares others to follow, and often runs alone against the clock. Yet even for an athlete of his calibre, raw courage will not suffice on Sunday. To dip under 26:40, precision pacing will be critical. The margin for error at such velocity is razor-thin, and the assistance of disciplined pacemakers could determine whether this becomes a fast race — or a truly historic one.

Castelló is known for producing rapid times, and conditions permitting, the course may offer the perfect arena for Almgren’s bold ambitions. If the early kilometres are controlled and the rhythm sustained deep into the race, we could witness a performance that redefines European excellence and edges into global legend.

Elite contenders from Ethiopia, Kenya, France, Norway, Germany, Australia, Eritrea, Switzerland, Chile, and Ireland converge on a course engineered for velocity. With ideal winter conditions forecast and a layout designed to reward rhythm and boldness, the tempo is expected to be unrelenting from the opening stride. Tactical discipline, calibrated pacing, and uncompromising endurance will determine who survives the inevitable surge.

Elite Men’s Start List – 10K Facsa Castellón 2026

Andreas Almgren (Sweden) – 26:45 AR

Kuma Girma (Ethiopia) – 26:58

Jack Rayner (Australia) – 27:09.57

Victor Kipruto (Kenya) – 27:10

Yann Schrub (France) – 27:20

Dawit Seare Berhanyukun (Eritrea) – 27:21

Magnus Tuv Myhre (Norway) – 27:22

Dennis Mutuku (Kenya) – 27:22.89

Zerei Kbrom Mzengi (Norway) – 27:39

Morgan Le Guen (Switzerland) – 27:42

Filimon Abraham (Germany) – 27:48.82

Bereket Nega Batebo (Ethiopia) – 27:49

Carlos Díaz (Chile) – 27:58.97

Simon Boch (Germany) – 28:01

Cormac Dalton (Ireland) – 28:03

A global convergence of speed and ambition awaits in Castelló — a morning where world-class credentials meet one of Europe’s fastest 10K stages, and where the line between continental dominance and world-record territory may grow perilously thin. 

World record? Perhaps. Something astonishingly close? Almost certainly.

One thing is undeniable: Andreas Almgren is not merely chasing times — he is chasing history. And on Sunday, the clock will have to be ready.

Few races in the world carry the reputation for pure speed that the 10K Facsa Castelló has built. Scheduled for Sunday, February 22, 2026, in Castelló, Spain, this race has become one of the premier destinations for athletes chasing fast times, personal bests, and global recognition over 10 kilometers.

Flat, fast, and perfectly organized, Castelló has earned its place among the elite road races worldwide. The course, which winds through the streets of this coastal Spanish city, offers ideal conditions for record-level performances. Over the past decade, Castelló has consistently produced some of the fastest 10K times ever recorded.

This year, the race welcomes one of Europe’s greatest distance runners at the peak of his powers. Multiple European record holder Andreas Almgren of Sweden has confirmed his return to Spanish soil, where he has produced the finest performances of his career. His presence instantly elevates the 2026 edition and positions Castelló once again as a potential stage for history.

A Course Designed for Speed

The 10K Facsa Castelló course is known for its simplicity and precision. With wide roads, minimal turns, and near-sea-level elevation, it provides ideal conditions for athletes to maintain rhythm and maximize efficiency. Cool February temperatures typically create near-perfect racing conditions, allowing runners to sustain aggressive pacing from start to finish.

The race has already secured its place in history. In 2020, Kenya’s Rhonex Kipruto stunned the athletics world with a remarkable 26:24 performance, at the time the fastest 10K ever recorded, firmly establishing Castelló as one of the fastest road racing venues on the planet. Athletes arrive knowing this is a place where limits are tested—and often broken.

Almgren’s Spanish Success Story Continues

For Almgren, Spain has become synonymous with breakthrough performances. In October, he delivered one of the most significant moments in European distance running history when he clocked 58:41 in Valencia, becoming the first European athlete ever to break the 59-minute barrier for the half marathon.

He returned to Valencia again last month and produced another extraordinary performance, lowering his own European 10K record and confirming his place among the world’s elite road racers. His ability to combine endurance, efficiency, and closing speed has transformed him into one of the most dangerous competitors at any distance from 10K to the half marathon.

Now, he returns to Castelló with confidence, momentum, and the proven ability to deliver record-breaking performances on Spanish roads.

A Global Stage for Fast Times

The 10K Facsa Castelló has earned worldwide respect not only for its course but for its ability to attract elite international talent. The race has become a preferred destination for athletes targeting personal bests, national records, and global recognition.

Almgren’s participation signals both ambition and intent. His recent performances have redefined what European athletes can achieve and demonstrated that he can challenge the very best in the world.

As race day approaches, anticipation continues to build. Castelló has already witnessed history. With Andreas Almgren returning in record-breaking form, it may be ready to witness it again.

On February 22, 2026, one of the fastest courses in the world will once again test the limits of human performance—and Andreas Almgren may once again be at the center of it.

VALENCIA, SPAIN — January 12, 2025 — Eilish McColgan once again asserted her place at the top of European road running, reclaiming the European 10K record with a superb 30:08 performance at the 10K Valencia Ibercaja.

Raced on the fast, flat streets of Valencia, the event has become the global benchmark for elite 10K racing. McColgan’s performance was a reminder that when conditions, competition, and preparation align, records are there to be challenged—and reclaimed.

McColgan’s 30:08 shaved two seconds off the previous European record, which had been set just one week earlier by Belgium’s Jana Van Lent. The quick succession of record-breaking performances highlights how rapidly standards are rising in women’s road racing, particularly at the 10K distance.

This was not unfamiliar territory for McColgan. She previously held the European 10K record, and Valencia offered the ideal setting to take it back. The course, known for its wide roads, gentle turns, and near-perfect winter conditions, has repeatedly proven itself as the place where limits are tested and redefined.

From the opening kilometers, McColgan ran with calm authority. She settled quickly into her target rhythm, maintained control through the middle stages, and continued to press without hesitation. There was no dramatic late surge—just sustained, efficient speed from start to finish. It was a performance built on precision and confidence.

Her time places her firmly among the fastest women ever over 10 kilometers on the road and reinforces her reputation as one of Europe’s premier distance runners. More importantly, it reflects a broader shift in women’s road racing, where records are no longer distant milestones but moving targets.

Valencia’s role in that shift continues to grow. The race now attracts extraordinary depth, not just at the front but throughout the field, creating an environment where athletes are pushed to run at their absolute limits. A strong performance here carries global significance.

For McColgan, this run adds another defining chapter to an already distinguished career. For European distance running, it signals a new era—one where excellence must be defended constantly, and where even continental records can be rewritten in a matter of days.

If Valencia has taught us anything, it is this: when runners want an honest test of where they stand, this is where they come.

Race details:

• Race: 10K Valencia Ibercaja

• Date: January 12, 2025

• Location: Valencia, Spain

• Result: Eilish McColgan — 30:08 (European Record)

European distance running reached a historic milestone on January 11, 2026, as Andreas Almgren delivered one of the greatest road performances ever recorded on the continent, clocking 26:44 for 10 kilometers at the 10K Valencia Ibercaja in Valencia, Spain.

Run at an astonishing average pace of 2:40 per kilometer, Almgren’s performance set a new European record and placed him firmly among the world’s all-time greats at the distance. When he crossed the finish line, he collapsed to the pavement—an unmistakable image of a runner who had gone all the way to the edge.

A Race Run on the Limit

This was not a cautious record attempt. Almgren raced aggressively from the start, locking into a pace few athletes in the world can sustain. His effort was defined by precision and courage:

• First 5K: approximately 13:22

• Second 5K: nearly identical

That kind of balance at such speed is extraordinarily rare, even among global medalists.

Why Valencia Matters

Valencia has become one of the fastest road-running venues in the world, known for ideal winter conditions, smooth courses, and elite competition. Still, even on a fast course, 26:44 is a time that demands perfect execution. Almgren didn’t just take advantage of the setting—he maximized it.

A New Benchmark for Europe

By breaking 27 minutes, Almgren joined one of the most exclusive clubs in distance running. Only a handful of athletes worldwide have ever run that fast over 10 kilometers on the road.

For European distance running, this was more than a record—it was a shift in belief. The gap to East African dominance has been narrowing for years, but performances like this show that Europe is now capable of competing at the very highest level.

Years in the Making

Almgren has long been regarded as one of Europe’s most gifted talents, excelling on both the track and the roads. This performance, however, marks a clear breakthrough—proof that his development has reached full world-class maturity, combining speed, strength, tactical awareness, and mental toughness.

Collapsing after the finish was not a sign of distress. It was confirmation of a race run to perfection—nothing held back.

What This Means Going Forward

Records redefine expectations. Almgren’s 26:44 will change how European runners view the limits of the 10K and will resonate well beyond the continent as the sport looks toward upcoming World Championships and Olympic cycles.

This was not just a fast race.

It was a statement.

Final Word

On a January morning in Valencia, Andreas Almgren didn’t just run the fastest 10K ever by a European—he redefined what European distance running can be. 

Runs like this don’t happen often. When they do, the sport moves forward.

On Sunday, January 11, Britain’s Eilish McColgan returns to one of the fastest road courses in the world with a clear objective: to run faster than ever before. McColgan will headline the Valencia 10K, aiming to improve the European 10K record of 30:19 that she already owns.

Valencia has become synonymous with speed. Flat, wide roads, cool January temperatures, and deep elite fields have turned the Spanish city into a global magnet for record-seekers. For McColgan, it is the ideal setting to push the limits again.

A Record Already Redefined

McColgan’s 30:19 shattered expectations when she set it, establishing a new benchmark for European women over 10 kilometers on the road. The performance was not only a record, but a statement—proof that European distance running continues to close the gap with the very best in the world.

Now, with another year of high-level racing behind her, McColgan believes there is more to come.

“I know I’m capable of faster,” she has said in recent interviews, pointing to consistent training blocks and renewed confidence as key factors heading into 2025.

Why Valencia?

The Valencia 10K has earned its reputation honestly. Year after year, the race produces world-class times across both the men’s and women’s fields. The course is famously flat, the pacing is precise, and the atmosphere—lined with knowledgeable, enthusiastic fans—helps pull athletes through the toughest late stages of the race.

For runners chasing records, few places offer better conditions.

Momentum Into 2025

McColgan enters the new season with momentum. Her track credentials as a former European champion at 10,000 meters translate perfectly to the road, where rhythm, strength, and controlled aggression are essential. Valencia’s fast early kilometers often allow athletes to settle into pace quickly—critical for anyone targeting historic times.

A faster run than 30:19 would not only lower her own European record, but also reaffirm McColgan’s position among the world’s elite road racers.

A Race to Watch

With top international competition expected and pacing designed for fast times, the women’s race promises to be one of the highlights of the early road-racing calendar. Whether McColgan rewrites the record books again or simply pushes the boundaries of what is possible, all eyes will be on Valencia.

One thing is certain: when Eilish McColgan toes the start line on January 11, she won’t be running conservatively.

She’ll be running for history.

France’s Jimmy Gressier stunned the athletics world in Tokyo Sept 14, sprinting past Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha in the final strides to claim the men’s 10,000m world title. His winning time of 28:55.77wasn’t about records — it was about patience, tactics, and a devastating final kick. With that surge, Gressier became the first non–East African-born world champion in the event since 1983.

But for those who have followed his career, this moment wasn’t magic out of thin air. It was years in the making.

Building Blocks: Cross-Country and U23 Glory

Born May 4, 1997, in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, Gressier’s rise began on the fields of European cross-country. Between 2017 and 2019, he won three consecutive U23 European Cross-Country Championships, showcasing his toughness in cold, muddy races far from the track’s bright lights.

At the 2019 European U23 Championships, he doubled up to win gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m, proving his versatility and hinting at bigger things to come.

Records on Track and Road

Gressier has rewritten France’s distance running records, and in some cases Europe’s.

• European 5K road record: In 2025, he became the first European to break the 13-minute barrier on the roads, clocking 12:57.

• French national records: He has owned the national bests in both the 5,000m and 10,000m on the track.

• Range: From 3,000m indoors to road races, Gressier has consistently proven his speed and endurance.

These performances made him one of Europe’s most promising distance runners, but until Tokyo he hadn’t converted that talent into senior global hardware.

Close Calls and Lessons Learned

The near misses added to his hunger.

• At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, he finished 13th in the 5,000m.

• At the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, he placed 11th in the 10,000m.

• At the 2022 European Championships in Munich, he narrowly missed the podium, finishing 4th in the 10,000m.

Each result showed progress, but also left him on the outside looking in when medals were awarded.

The Breakthrough in Tokyo

That changed on a humid night at the 2025 World Championships. The men’s 10,000m was run cautiously, the pack conserving energy for the inevitable burn-up over the final lap. When the bell rang, Gressier positioned himself perfectly. His closing burst in the home straight carried him past Kejelcha by just 0.06 seconds, with Sweden’s Andreas Almgren snatching bronze behind them.

It was a win not just for Gressier, but for European distance running — a reminder that the East African dominance of the 10,000m can be challenged.

Jimmy Gressier celebrates on the biggest stage

Until a few weeks ago, Jimmy Gressier was best known internationally for his celebrations, in particular at the European U23 cross country championshiops. Then he won the Diamond League final at 3000m with a big kick over Grant Fisher. Now he is world champion at 10,000m. He said, “It was a dream, and today I can say it: I am world champion.”

Gressier had shown flashes internationally (5th at the World Road Running Champs in the half marathon), but nothing on the track. He was 13th at last year’s Olympics (one spot behind Nico Young) and only 5th in a tactical European 10,000. He had never medalled at Europeans on the track and had a best finish of just ninth in four previous global finals across the 5,000 and 10,000. But he has run pbs this year in the 1500 (3:32), 3000 (7:30), and 5,000 (12:51), and after his big finish got him the Diamond League win, Gressier said he started to believe anything was possible at Worlds.

He explained: “I surprised myself in Zurich, but not today… I knew I could repeat the same plan, and that’s exactly what happened.” Gressier waited until the final 100m to attack and zig-zagged down the home straight to the title.

What Comes Next

At only 28, Gressier’s career is still entering its peak. With records behind him and now a world title to his name, the Frenchman has options: chasing more global medals on the track, doubling up in the 5,000m, or testing himself further on the roads.

For now, his Tokyo triumph stands as a moment of validation. Years of persistence, hard lessons, and belief came together in a single sprint — and Jimmy Gressier crossed into history.

The Great North Run, the world’s largest half marathon, returns on Sunday, September 7, 2025, bringing together over 60,000 participants and a stellar elite field. The iconic 13.1-mile course, which stretches from Newcastle to South Shields, will once again showcase some of the sport’s top international talent.

Kipchumba Returns to Defend His Title

Kenya’s Kipchumba, last year’s men’s champion, is back with his sights set on a repeat victory.

“I’m very happy to return to the Great North Run again this year. It was a great honour to win one of the biggest half marathons in the world at my first attempt. I know I have tough competition this year but am ready for the challenge,” he said.

A successful defense would further establish Kipchumba among the premier road runners on the global stage.

McColgan vs. Chepkirui in the Women’s Race

The women’s race will feature a highly anticipated clash between Eilish McColgan of Great Britain and Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui.

McColgan, the reigning European 10,000m champion and Commonwealth Games gold medalist, has been making a seamless transition from the track to the roads. A win here would be especially meaningful on home soil.

Chepkirui, meanwhile, has emerged as one of Kenya’s most versatile athletes. She earned bronze behind McColgan at the 2022 Commonwealth Games 10,000m, and in 2024 captured the New York City Marathon title, confirming her strength over longer distances.

Vivian Cheruiyot Brings Experience

Adding depth to the women’s field is Vivian Cheruiyot, a four-time Olympic medalist and two-time Great North Run champion (2016, 2018). Her return injects both experience and star power into what is already a world-class lineup.

A Race with History and Prestige

Since its founding in 1981 by Olympian Brendan Foster, the Great North Run has grown into the largest half marathon in the world. Its course—crossing the Tyne Bridge before finishing along the South Shields seafront—is lined with thousands of enthusiastic spectators.

The race has seen some of the sport’s greatest champions, including Mo Farah, Haile Gebrselassie, and Paula Radcliffe. The course records stand at 58:56 for men (Martin Mathathi, 2011) and 1:04:28 for women (Brigid Kosgei, 2019).

2025 at a Glance

• Date: Sunday, September 7, 2025

• Location: Newcastle upon Tyne to South Shields

• Elite Men: Kipchumba (defending champion)

• Elite Women: Eilish McColgan, Sheila Chepkirui, Vivian Cheruiyot

• Course Records: Martin Mathathi (58:56), Brigid Kosgei (1:04:28)

With Kipchumba aiming for back-to-back titles, McColgan and Chepkirui set for a dramatic head-to-head battle, and Cheruiyot returning to familiar ground, the 2025 Great North Run promises another unforgettable day in the history of distance running.

Swiss long-distance runner Julien Wanders has declared his return to marathon competition after a three-year hiatus. In a recent Instagram post, Wanders expressed his enthusiasm:

“I’m happy to announce that I will run the haspamarathonhamburg on 27th of April. After 3 years, it’s time for me to go back to marathon.”  

Born on March 18, 1996, in Geneva, Switzerland, Wanders has made significant strides in long-distance running. He set the European record for the half marathon with a time of 59:13 at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in 2019 I and holds the European 10 km road race record with a time of 27:13, achieved in Valencia in 2020.

Challenges Leading to Hiatus

Wanders’ absence from marathon events over the past three years stems from a series of health challenges and injuries:

• 2021: In early 2021, Wanders suffered a hamstring injury, which, coupled with a bout of pneumonia, hindered his performance. Despite participating in the Tokyo Olympics, he finished 21st in the 10,000 meters. Post-Olympics, an MRI revealed significant hamstring irritation, necessitating a break from running.  

• 2022: Wanders debuted in the Paris Marathon but faced digestive issues, leading to multiple stops and a finish time of 2:11:52. In May, he was diagnosed with a sacral stress fracture, sidelining him for the track season. His return at the Copenhagen Half Marathon in September was marred by illness, resulting in a time of 1:03:47. Later that year, he attempted the Valencia Marathon but withdrew after 31 kilometers due to illness.

Training in Kenya

A pivotal aspect of Wanders’ training regimen involves extensive periods in Iten, Kenya, a renowned high-altitude training hub. Drawn by the area’s reputation and inspired by his research on Kenyan running culture, he first visited Iten in 2014. Despite initial challenges, including adapting to the altitude and local conditions, Wanders found the environment conducive to his growth. He now spends about half the year training in Kenya, benefiting from the high-altitude conditions and the opportunity to train alongside elite athletes.  

Wanders’ commitment to rigorous training is evident in his regimen, which includes 13 sessions per week, covering 170-190 km, along with core stability and weight training sessions.

As Wanders prepares for his marathon return in Hamburg, the running community eagerly anticipates his performance and potential resurgence on the international stage. His journey underscores the resilience and determination required to overcome setbacks and pursue excellence in long-distance running.

Julien Wanders, the European record holder in the half marathon, is set to make a highly anticipated return to the Napoli City Half Marathon on Sunday, February 23, 2025. The Swiss long-distance runner, renowned for his exceptional speed and endurance, is ready to make his mark once again at this prestigious event.

Wanders holds the European half marathon record with a time of 59:13, achieved in 2019, and previously held the European 10 km record with a time of 27:13. His previous performances have solidified his reputation as one of the finest distance runners of his generation, and his return to Naples comes with even greater ambitions.

In 2022, Wanders delivered a standout performance at the Napoli City Half Marathon, finishing in 1:00:28. While impressive, he now aims to surpass this performance and reaffirm his place among the world’s elite. Reflecting on his return to Naples, Wanders shared, “I have fond memories of Naples. This race holds a special place in my heart, and I see it as a crucial step in my journey back to the world’s top level. I am excited to return and will give my best performance.”

A New Chapter: Training at Altitude in Kenya

To prepare for this race, Wanders has been training intensively in Kenya, a country famous for its high-altitude training environment and as the home of many of the world’s greatest long-distance runners. This rigorous training regimen is a core part of his strategy to regain peak form and achieve a top-level performance in Naples.

Napoli City Half Marathon: A World-Class Race

The Napoli City Half Marathon, organized by Napoli Running, is one of Italy’s premier running events. Known for its fast and flat course, the race attracts elite athletes from around the world. The route offers stunning views of the Gulf of Naples and Mount Vesuvius, providing a picturesque backdrop for participants and spectators alike.

Naples has become Italy’s “capital city of half-marathons,” consistently hosting record-breaking performances. Both the men’s and women’s Italian national records have been set on its course, which is praised for being one of the fastest in Europe. The race also serves as the official opening event of the RunCzech running season, drawing thousands of participants eager to challenge themselves on its renowned course.

Eyes on the Future

For Julien Wanders, the 2025 Napoli City Half Marathon is more than just another competition; it is a pivotal moment in his journey back to the pinnacle of long-distance running. With his undeniable talent, rigorous preparation, and the allure of Naples’ record-breaking course, the stage is set for an unforgettable performance.

As Wanders takes to the streets of Naples, he will not only be competing but also reminding the world why he remains one of Europe’s most accomplished long-distance runners.

Olympic and world triathlon champion Alex Yee continued to impress with his running prowess, finishing in the top 30 at the Valencia 10K on Sunday, January 12, 2025. Competing in his first official race over the 10K distance, Yee clocked a time of 28:07, showcasing his versatility and speed as he prepares for his marathon debut in April at the London Marathon.

The 25-year-old, who has earned two Olympic gold medals and numerous triathlon world titles, was the third-fastest British runner in the race. Rory Leonard set a new British 10K record with an incredible 27:38, followed closely by Charlie Wheeler, who achieved a personal best of 27:42. Yee, finishing over a minute behind Sweden’s Andreas Almgren—who shattered the European 10K record in 26:53—remains focused on transitioning his elite triathlon career to include long-distance running.

Known for his exceptional running ability, Yee has long been considered one of the fastest triathletes in history, often posting the fastest splits in international competitions. The Valencia 10K marked an important step in his progression as a pure runner, as he sets his sights on challenging for a strong marathon debut in London this April.

Yee’s dual success in triathlon and running highlights his incredible athleticism, endurance, and adaptability, making him a serious contender in the world of distance running.

The 26-year-old reflected on his performance in an Instagram story: “Not bad not good! Needed some strength on K 7/8... What an amazing race to be part of! 7 national records and a European record."

Kenya's Hellen Ekalale Lobun and Sweden’s Andreas Almgren claimed victories at the 10K Valencia Ibercaja by Kiprun, a World Athletics Label road race, on Sunday (12).

Lobun, who took the women’s title in 29:30, moved to fourth on the world all-time list while Almgren took 11 seconds off the European record, winning the men’s race in 26:53.

In a race of incredible depth, the first four women now feature in the top 10 on the world all-time list, while the men’s contest marked the first time 11 athletes had finished inside 27:30.

The women’s contest had been billed as an assault on the Ethiopian record (29:14) by pre-race favourite Fotyen Tesfay, who won the Valencia Half Marathon in 1:03:21 in October. Paced by Spain’s Abedarrahman El Khayami, the lead quartet of Tesfay, Lobun, Girmawit Gebrezihair and teenager Asayech Ayichew went through 3km in 8:46, putting them on course to break the world record of 28:46.

The cadence soon dropped, however, and Tesfay went through 5km in 14:31 with Lobun five seconds behind, Ayichew another two seconds in arrears and Gebrezihair clocking 14:42. Soon after, Tesfay had been reeled back in, and the lead trio – Tesfay, Lobun and Gebrezihair – reached 7km in 20:29.

Approaching the final kilometre, Tesfay dropped back, leaving Lobun and Gebrezihair to duel for the victory. Lobun broke away from her Ethiopian rival with 600 metres to go, crossing the line in 29:30 in what was her first standalone 10km race (though she has previously contested two half marathons).

Gebrezihair was second in 29:34, taking more than a minute off her previous best, while a tired Tesfay (29:42) managed to hold off Ayichew (29:43), both women setting PBs. It’s just the second time in history – after last year’s Valencia 10k – that four women have finished inside 30 minutes.

“I didn’t expect to win but I knew I was in good shape,” said Lobun who is based in Kirenget and is coached by Williams Langat. “It was my first 10km ever so my debut has been fantastic. I’ll next compete on 23 February at the Lobo Village cross country race in Eldoret and later I’ll focus on the track season as I try to make the Kenyan team for the World Championships in Tokyo.”

Despite the absence of the scheduled pacemaker Rodrigue Kwizera, who was forced to withdraw because of flu, the men’s contest ended up being one of the best ever in terms of depth.

Kenya’s Daniel Kinyanjui, Vincent Langat and Benard Langat, along with Ethiopia’s Tadese Worku and Telahun Haile Bekele took charge of the pacing duties with Almgren, Switzerland’s Dominic Lobalu and Belgium’s Isaac Kimeli also part of the leading pack. The opening 3km was covered in 8:13 and half way was passed in 13:43, suggesting a finishing time well outside 27 minutes.

The pace soon started to increase, though, as Bekele, Langat and Lobalu started to push harder, reaching 7km in 19:05 with seven athletes in the lead pack. The pace, now at 2:40/km, continued to increase as Lobalu, Langat and Almgren reached 9km well ahead of the rest.

European 10,000m champion Lobalu tried to surge in the closing stages, but Langat and Almgren stayed on his shoulder. With just seconds to go, track specialist Almgren put his kick finish to good use and edged in front to cross the line in 26:53, having covered the second half in 13:10.

Lobalu settled for second in 26:54 and Langat completed the podium in 26:55. Further down the field, Uruguay’s Santiago Catrofe set a South American record of 27:16 in eighth.

“Last year I ran 27:20 here and I knew I could run much faster today,” said Almgren, the 2014 world U20 800m bronze medallist who has moved up in distance in recent years and ran 26:53.57 for 10,000m on the track last year. “It’s my first European record so I’m over the moon; I’ll now spend four weeks in the altitude of Sierra Nevada to focus on my next target, the 3000m at the European Indoor Championships.”

In addition to the area records, national records were also set by Switzerland’s Lobalu, Eritrea’s Dawit Seare (27:21), Great Britain’s Rory Leonard (27:38), Spain’s Ilias Fifa (27:41) and Ireland’s Efrem Giday (27:43).

Leading results

Women1 Hellen Lobun (KEN) 29:302 Girmawit Gebrzihair (ETH) 29:343 Fotyen Tesfay (ETH) 29:424 Asayech Ayichew (ETH) 29:435 Fentaye Belayneh (ETH) 30:006 Christine Chesiro (KEN) 30:067 Maurine Toroitich (KEN) 30:288 Miriam Serem (KEN) 30:299 Alice Chemtai (KEN) 30:4710 Lomi Muleta (ETH) 31:01

Men1 Andreas Almgren (SWE) 26:532 Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu (SUI) 26:543 Vincent Langat (KEN) 26:554 Daniel Kinyanjui (KEN) 27:065 Isaac Kimeli (BEL) 27:106 Benard Langat (KEN) 27:117 Telahun Haile Bekele (ETH) 27:138 Santiago Catrofe (URU) 27:169 Dawit Seare (ERI) 27:2110 Celestin Ndikumana (BDI) 27:23

On January 12, thousands of runners will fly through the fastest 10K course in the world. Dominic Lobalu, Isaac Kimeli and Andreas Almgren arrive in Valencia with the goal of breaking the European 10K record.

The 10K Valencia Ibercaja by Kiprun is finalizing the details to offer again a great show in what will be its 17th edition this coming January 12. The race, which closed its registration last December 22 after exhausting the available numbers, will feature a cast of elite athletes of up to 25 nationalities. 

According to José Enrique Muñoz Acuña, Coordinator of Elite athletes and sports director of the race, the goal this year "is to continue the level of sporting demand that has the 10K Valencia as the best 10K in Spain and holder of world records for both men and women". "This January 12 we will once again experience an event of the highest level, in which -if the conditions respect us- athletes can meet their goals and we can once again see men under 27 minutes and women under 30 minutes," he added. 

As usual in the 10K Valencia, in men "we find a list that stands out for the good level of European athletes, who come with the aim of breaking the European record", which is currently held by Etienne Daguinos (27:04, Lille 2024). For this "there are three clear favorites: Dominic Lobalu (Switzerland), Isaac Kimeli (Belgium) and Andreas Almgren (Sweden), who will have a hare to launch the race to go under 27 minutes." 

As for the African armada, several athletes stand out, such as the Ethiopians Telahun Bekele, Getnet Wale and the debutant in the distance Samuel Tefera, double world indoor 1,500ml champion. In addition to many other athletes who can opt for victory, such as Kenyans Daniel Kinyanjui, Vincent Langat or Meshack Lelgut, "In total, we have 32 men with records under28 minutes".

As for the Spanish representation, several names stand out: Abdessamad Oukhelfen, current national record holder of the distance with 27:44 made last January on this circuit, Daniel Arce, who comes from running very fast in León, Juan A. Pérez Moreno, Víctor Ruiz and Aarón Las Heras. It is worth mentioning the Uruguayan athlete living in Spain, Santiago Catrofe, who comes to Valencia with the intention of improving the South American AR, which is currently held by the Argentinean Antonio Silio (27:51, 1990). 

Women, going all out 

In the women's field, three clear favorites stand out: Fotyen Tesfay (Ethiopia), Christine Chesiro (Kenya) and the young and talented Ethiopian athlete Asayech Ayichew, who won the Great Ethiopian Run a few weeks ago. "In addition to them we have to add a great cast of African athletes. They all come to Valencia to improve their records".  

In European terms, several athletes stand out, such as Slovenia's Klara Lukan, France's Mekdes Woldu and England's Abbie Donnelly, all of them looking to break their current records. 

In the Spanish field, we have two athletes who arrive in a similar form as Alicia Berzosa and Laura Priego, the clear favorites to win in the Spanish category without forgetting the athlete of the Serrano Athletics Club, Maria Jose Perez.

It is worth remembering that the 10K Valencia, which achieved the World Record in men in 2020 (26:24), managed to break all forecasts in the last edition when the athlete Agnes Jebet beat the 10K world record with a 28:46. On a national level, Abdessamad Oukhelfen won the Spanish men's 10K record with a time of 27:44. 

Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s absence from the European Cross Country Championships last year only seemed to fuel his determination for a spectacular return in 2024. On Saturday, the Norwegian middle-distance superstar, who won in both 2021 and 2022, captured his seventh Euro XC title—his third as a senior—at Dokuma Park in Antalya, Türkiye.

“The course was very challenging and tactical,” Ingebrigtsen, the two-time world 5,000m champion, told media post-race. “There’s a lot of fighting and pushing, a lot of things that could happen.” The 7.8 km course featured sections of sand and mud.

Ingebrigtsen ran comfortably in the lead pack throughout most of the race, before launching a decisive move in the final stages. He crossed the finish line in 22 minutes and 16 seconds, eight seconds ahead of Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa. Spain’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo took bronze in 22:31.

Women’s race

Italy’s Nadia Battocletti stole the spotlight on the women’s side, securing her third continental title in 2024. The Olympic 10,000m silver medallist from Italy captured her first senior European cross-country title, following a season that saw her clinch a 5000m/10,000m double at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships.

Like Ingebrigtsen, Battocletti demonstrated strategic patience, remaining close to the front pack and unleashing a powerful kick in the final kilometres. She finished in 25:43—11 seconds clear of Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen, who took silver for the second year in a row, crossing the line in 25:54 and matching her finishing time in 2023.  The European 10,000m champion, Yasemin Can, ran 26:01 to capture bronze in her home country.

Kenya’s double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet and Spain’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo were the winners at the Cross Internacional de Itálica – a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting – held on the outskirts of Seville on Sunday (17).

While two-time world cross-country champion Chebet was a dominant winner of the women’s race, European 10,000m bronze medallist Ndikumwenayo prevailed in a much tighter finish over Burundi’s Rodrigue Kwizera and pre-race favourite Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi in the men’s contest.

Chebet set a swift pace from the outset, and after just one minute of running she already had a lead over a chase quintet comprising Kazakhstan’s Deisy Jepkemei, Uganda’s Charity Cherop and Kenya’s Mercy, Diana and Sharon Chepkemoi. European 5000m bronze medallist Marta García and fellow Spaniard Carolina Robles were a few metres back, alongside Sweden’s Sarah Lahti.

Chebet covered the opening 2.5km loop in a brisk 7:36, six seconds faster than Jepkemei, herself another three clear of Cherop. The world 10,000m record-holder almost matched that pace on the second lap (7:44), by which time she had doubled her leading margin to 12 seconds.

Over the closing circuit, Chebet maintained her cadence and produced a 7:42 lap to seal the victory. By the time she crossed the finish line in 23:32, her lead had grown to 27 seconds over Jepkemei with Cherop holding off her pursuers to secure third place.

“It was my third appearance here and I managed to triumph at last so I’m very satisfied,” said Chebet. “It has also been very nice to share the weekend with my young compatriots Mercy, Diana and Sharon Chepkemoi.”

Unlike the women’s contest, the men’s race opened at a moderate rhythm. Morocco’s Younes Kniya was the surprise early leader, covering the opening lap in 7:13 while a large chase pack followed in 7:16.

European half marathon champion Crippa caught Kniya shortly after the fourth kilometre. At the bell – with the second lap having been covered in 7:03 – Crippa headed a group of eight men which included Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Berihu Aregawi. The 23-year-old Ethiopian took command for the first time about 18 minutes into the race but his lead proved to be short-lived as Kwizera and Ndikumwenayo moved to the front and began to push hard.

Crippa lost ground with about 700m left. Then, over the closing 500m, Ndikumwenayo’s fierce attack paid off as he managed to build a slight advantage on Kwizera while Aregawi struggled and just couldn’t follow their pace.

With the final lap covered in 6:36, Ndikumwenayo crossed the finish line ahead of his training mate Kwizera, though both were given the same time (21:24). Aregawi took third spot in 21:27 with Crippa another five seconds in arrears.

“I didn’t expect to win as my only target today was to help my club (Playas de Castellón) to win the national team title but I felt strong throughout and decided to go for the victory over the last lap,” said Ndikumwenayo, the winner here two years ago. “I’m now going to return to the altitude of Sierra Nevada where I’m building up for the European Cross Country Championships which will be next competition.”

Leading results

Women

1 Beatrice Chebet (KEN) 23:32

2 Daisy Jepkemei (KZK) 23:59

3 Charity Cherop (UGA) 24:35

4 Diana Chepkemoi (KEN) 24:38

5 Mercy Chepkemoi (KEN) 24:46

6 Marta García (ESP) 24:50

Men

1 Thierry Ndikumwenayo (ESP) 21:24

2 Rodrigue Kwizera (BDI) 21:24

3 Berihu Aregawi (ETH) 21:27

4 Yemaneberhan Crippa (ITA) 21:32

5 Kenneth Kiprop (UGA) 21:41

6 Adel Mechaal (ESP) 21:42

The distance runner clocks 27:04 and takes three seconds off Jimmy Gressier’s mark with super run in French city

Etienne Daguinos set a European 10km record with a sensational performance at Urban Trail de Lille (November 16).

Daguinos, who was part of the French under-23 team that claimed silver at the 2022 European Cross Country Championships, went into the 10km off the back of a personal half-marathon best of 59:46, which put him joint-10th on the European all-time list over 13.1 miles.

“I cannot believe it,” Daguinos said. “Some people might have predicted it [10km record] but I didn’t believe it. I knew that I was in good shape after my half-marathon in Valencia. I wanted to run faster than 27:30 and I am still in shock.”

Not only did Daguinos defeat a strong and deep field in Lille but he did so by running identical 5km splits of 13:32.

World 1500m bronze medallist Narve Gilje Nordas broke the Norwegian 10km record with 27:31, while Mohamed Abdilaahi clocked 27:40, the fastest time by a German in history.

That put the pair seventh and joint-10th on the European 10km all-time list respectively.

It means that Mo Farah, who ran 27:44 in 2010 and held the European 10km record until Julien Wanders recorded 27:32 in 2018, is now 13th on the rankings.

With six out of the eight fastest 10km times by European male athlete occurring this season, expect the record books to tumble once again next year.

Daguinos, who occasionally trains in Font Romeu and also has a background in trail running, is now in prime position to be the first European athlete to break the 27-minute barrier in the 10km.

Only 29 athletes have ever achieved the feat and they are all from Africa.

The Cross Internacional de Itálica in Santiponce on the outskirts of the Spanish city of Seville – the fifth Gold standard meeting in the current World Athletics Cross Country Tour – always boasts a quality line-up, and this year’s race on Sunday (17) features the most prominent line-up so far this season.

Entries for the women’s race, contested over 7.5km, are headed by Kenya’s two-time world cross-country champion and double Olympic gold medalist Beatrice Chebet. The 24-year-old has enjoyed a superb season, topped by her 5000m and 10,000m titles at the Paris Olympics, three months after becoming the first woman to dip under the 29-minute barrier for the latter distance thanks to a 28:54.14 clocking in Eugene on 25 May.

Chebet, who is also the reigning world champion and world record holder for the road 5km, will be making her third appearance here following her runner-up spot in 2020 and her third place in 2021. It will be her first race since her 14:09.82 5000m victory at the Diamond League Final in Brussels.

She will start as the overwhelming favourite for the victory, though she’ll face quality opposition in the form of compatriot Mercy Chepkemoi and Kazakhstan’s Daisy Jepkemei. The latter finished seventh at this year’s World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, and more recently she captured a commanding win in Atapuerca last month.

Chepkemoi is fresh from a fine win in Cardiff last Saturday. She placed fourth over 5000m at the World U20 Championships in Lima in August, finishing just behind bronze medalist Charity Cherop of Uganda, who will also be racing in Santiponce this weekend.

The line-up also comprises Diana and Sharon Chepkemoi, who finished third and seventh respectively in the steeplechase in Lima. Both also competed in Soria last Sunday where they finished third (Diana) and fourth (Sharon).

Meanwhile, France’s Alice Finot, who set a European record of 8:58.67 when finishing fourth in the steeplechase at the Paris Olympics, will be contesting just her second cross-country race in the past seven years.

Portugal’s Mariana Machado recently finished sixth in Atapuerca, sandwiched between Spanish cross-country champion Carolina Robles and Olympic 1500m finalist Agueda Marques who finished fourth and seventh respectively there, closely followed by Maria Forero, the 2022 European U20 cross-country champion. All of them will renew their rivalry this weekend.

European 5000m bronze medalist Marta García, meanwhile, will be making her only cross-country outing of the winter before focusing on the indoor season.

The men’s race has been reduced to 7.5km which plays into the hands of the middle-distance specialists. But that shouldn’t be a problem for Olympic 10,000m silver medalist Berihu Aregawi, as the Ethiopian is also the third-fastest man in history over 3000m.

The 23-year-old opened the year in style by retaining his silver medal at the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade before setting a 10,000m PB of 26:31.13 in Nerja. Following his Olympic silver in Paris, he clocked an Ethiopian record of 7:21.28 for 3000m and won the 5000m at the Diamond League Final in Brussels.

Sunday’s race will be Aregawi’s first cross-country outing this season, but fellow Etiopians Ayele Tadesse and Wegene Addisu have already made a mark on the tour, finishing second and fourth respectively in Soria last weekend.

Yet Aregawi’s fiercest opposition should come from Burundi’s Rodrigue Kwizera and Spain’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo. Kwizera is still unbeaten this cross-country season, having won in Amorebieta, Atapuerca and Soria. He has successively finished first, second and third on his appearances in Seville over the past three years.

Meanwhile, his training partner Ndikumwenayo – winner in Seville in 2022 – is the European 10,000m bronze medallist and lowered his 10,000m PB to 26:49.49 for ninth place at the Paris Olympics. Ndikumwenayo will travel to Seville from his altitude stint in Sierra Nevada where he’s building up for the European Cross Country Championchips in Antalya on 8 December.

Watch out too for Uruguay’s Santiago Catrofe. He boasts PBs of 7:37:15 for 3000m and 13:05.95 for 5000m and was a surprise winner in San Sebastian two weeks ago when he kicked away from Uganda’s Martin Kiprotich, who’ll also be in contention on Sunday.

Kiprotich will be joined by his compatriots Kenneth Kiprop, Dan Kibet and Hosea Kiplangat. The former is the world U20 5000m bronze medallist and triumphed in Cardiff where Kibet had to settle for third.

The Spanish charge will be led by European indoor 3000m silver medallist Adel Mechaal, US-based Aarón Las Heras, national 10km record-holder Abdessadam Oukhelfen, and the always consistent Nassim Hassaous.

Past winners in Seville include Fernando Mamede (1984 and 1985), Paul Tergat (1998 and 1999), Paula Radcliffe (2001), Kenenisa Bekele (2003, 2004 and 2007), Faith Kipyegon (2016), Joshua Cheptegei (2018) and Jacob Kiplimo (2019).

Temperatures between 22-24C are predicted for the time of the elite races on Sunday.

Three-time European cross country champion Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal dominated the women’s 10km at the Hytteplanmila in Hole on Saturday (19).

Grøvdal won the women’s race - and the Norwegian 10km title with it - in 31:12, winning by over two minutes from 17-year-old super-talent Wilma Anna Bekkemoen Torbiörnss whose time of 33:29 was a Norwegian U18 best.

The Hytteplanmila is Grøvdal's traditional opening race to her winter campaign and she has won in Hole no less than 10 times since 2012. It was on this course that she famously smashed Ingrid Kristiansen’s 31-year-old Norwegian 10km record by 27 seconds with a run of 30:32 which is currently fifth the time on the European all-time list and remains the course record.

Grøvdal is likely to aim for a fourth successive senior title at the 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in less than 50 days’ time in Antalya, Turkey but the Norwegians will also have a genuine medal hope in Bekkemoen Torbiörns in the U20 women’s race.

Bekkemoen Torbiörnss won bronze in the 1500m at the Banska Bystrica European Athletics U18 Championships and the teeanger concluded her season by clocking Norwegian U18 bests over 1500m (4:09.80) and 3000m (9:03.17).

In the men’s race, world 1500m bronze medalist Narve Gilje Nordas won in 28:24 - his four consecutive win - by four seconds from Sweden’s Suldan Hassan (28:28) and Per Svela (28:32).

Former European marathon record-holder Sondre Nordstad Moen was fifth in 28:48. 

Elsewhere on the roads…

Just over two months after finishing 26th in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Israel’s Maru Teferi finished a close third in the TCS Amsterdam Marathon in a lifetime best of 2:05:42, just behind Ethiopians Tsegay Getachew (2:05:38) and Boki Asefa (2:05:40).

Khalid Choukoud was the first Dutch finisher in 10th in 2:09:30 with Filmon Tesfu a creditable 13th on his marathon debut in 2:10:58.

In her last race of the season, 2022 European 10,000m silver medallist Eilish McColgan finished fourth in the New Delhi Half Marathon in high temperatures and humidity in 69:55. 

In conjunction with the Ljubljana Marathon, home favorite and 2019 European U20 5000m champion Klara Lukan impressively won the adjoining women's 10km in 31:49 by over two minutes.

The Scottish marathon record-holder will make his half-marathon return on home turf in Glasgow

Callum Hawkins is set to make his first half-marathon appearance of the year this Sunday (October 6) at the AJ Bell Great Scottish Run in Glasgow.

The 32-year-old hasn’t competed in any half-marathons this season, but he did race in the London Marathon back in April, finishing in 16th place with a time of 2:17:34.

In 2019, the Kilbarchan athlete set the Scottish marathon record at the London Marathon with a time of 2:08:14, securing a tenth-place finish. That same year, he was fourth at the 2019 World Championships over 26.2 miles.

In 2019, the Kilbarchan athlete set the Scottish marathon record at the London Marathon with a time of 2:08:14, securing a tenth-place finish. That same year, he was fourth at the 2019 World Championships over 26.2 miles.

In the women’s race, rising star Natasha Phillips – the U20 European and British Half Marathon record-holder – will hope to make her mark on home turf. The 19-year-old also claimed the Scottish U20 cross-country title earlier this year in Falkirk.

The Great Scottish Run will also feature a 10km race, where double Olympian Chris Thompson, who recently announced his retirement, will make his final professional appearance in Scotland.

The 43-year-old, who represented Great Britain at two Olympic Games and earned a European 10,000m silver medal, previously won the Great Scottish Run half-marathon in both 2017 and 2018.

Thompson’s final meet before officially retiring will be at the Great South Run on October 20.

The Great Scottish Run is set to be the largest ever, with over 30,000 participants taking to the streets of Glasgow.

The 10km race will begin at 8.30am with the half marathon beginning at 10am.

Double world marathon champion, Edna Kiplagat will lead a stellar team of deep elite women at the 18th edition of the New York City Half Marathon scheduled for Sunday (17) in New York City.

The 44 year-old who is the oldest athlete to grace this event, comes to this race with the second fastest time on paper of 1:07.52 that she got last year at the Houston Half Marathon.

Kiplagat who is also a four time world major marathon winner will have to get past the two-time U.S. Olympian and Boston Marathon winner Des Linden and Rio Olympics 1500m bronze medallist, Jenny Simpson.

Other title contenders include former European 10,000m bronze medallist, Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal, who is also the fastest athlete on paper with a time of 1:07.34, world marathon bronze medallist, Fatima Gardadi, and Canadian marathon record holder Malindi Elmore.

The race organisers have assembled this strong team to target the race course record of 1:07.35 set eight years ago by Molly Huddle of United States.

LEADING TIME

21KM WOMEN

Karoline Grøvdal (NOR) 1:07.34

Edna Kiplagat      (KEN) 1:07.52

Malindi Elmore    (CAN) 1:10.11

Des Linden           (USA) 1:10.34

Jenny Simpson     (USA) 1:10.35

Fatima Gardadi    (MOR)1:10.28

The Acea Run Rome The Marathon has proved a happy hunting ground in recent years for athletes from the east African nation

Winners of the Rome Marathon in the past include Emile Puttemans of Belgium, Bernie Ford from Britain and Stefano Baldini of Italy. But Ethiopia has dominated in recent years and the east African nation will be tough to beat again in the 2023 event on Sunday (March 19).

Six of the last nine men’s winners and seven of the last eight women’s champions in Rome have come from Ethiopia and runners from that country lead the entries this weekend too.

Fikre Bekele will attempt to defend his men’s title whereas fellow Ethiopian Zinash Debebe Getachew leads the women’s line-up.

Bekele ran a course record of 2:06:48 last year in the Italian capital but has since improved his best to 2:06:16 when he won the Linz Marathon in October.

Also expected to be at the front of the 15,000-strong field are Berhanu Heye and Alemu Gemechu of Ethiopia along with Nicodemus Kimutai of Kenya. Look out too for reigning Dublin Marathon champion Taoufik Allam of Morocco.

Women’s favorite Getachew has a best of 2:27:15 but will be challenged by Brenda Kiprono of Kenya, plus Mulugojam Ambi and Amid Fozya Jemal of Ethiopia.

The women’s course record is held by Alemu Megertu with 2:22:52.

Italian interest, meanwhile, includes Nekagenet Crippa (the older brother of European 10,000m champion Yeman), Stefano La Rosa and Giorgio Calcaterra. The latter, who is now aged 51, is known as the ‘king of Rome’ as he first ran the Rome Marathon 20 years ago and has completed 330 marathons during his life, won the world 100km title three times and has notched up 12 consecutive victories in the famous 100km del Passatore ultra-marathon.

A little further down the field, all eyes will be on Ermias Ayele, a former race director of the Great Ethiopian Run who is aiming to complete the 26.2 miles barefoot in memory of the great Abebe Bikila, who stormed to Olympic glory on the streets of Rome in 1960.

“Abebe Bikila laid the foundation for the success of not only Ethiopian athletes, but Africans in general as he was the first black to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games,” he says. “However, I have always felt that he did not get the recognition he deserved. Moreover, his story always inspired me and that’s why I am planning to emulate him in the same place and the same way, where he made history and pay tribute to all he’s done for athletics and Ethiopia.”

Jimmy Gressier ran 13:12 to regain the European 5km record at the MonacoRun, a World Athletics Label event, in Monaco on Sunday (12).

The French 25-year-old had gone into the event targeting the area record of 13:14 that had been set by Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa in Herzogenaurach last April, that mark having taken four seconds off the continental record that Gressier had set in Monaco in 2020.

Pacing his run to perfection, the European 10,000m fourth-place finisher managed to take two seconds off the European record and won by 12 seconds ahead of South Sudan’s Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu. Uganda’s world 5000m bronze medalist Oscar Chelimo finished third in 13:32.

“It was a controlled race. My pacers did a great job and the goal beforehand was to run close to 13:10,” said Gressier. “I came back from a great training camp in Kenya and I could feel my shape was getting better and better this week.”

Gressier will continue to race on the roads over the next few weeks, competing over 10km and the half marathon in Castellon and Paris, before focusing on the 1500m and 5000m on the track during the outdoor season.

The women’s 5km was won by Kenya’s Mirriam Chebet in 15:40.

Chebet proved her form by finishing third at the Campaccio Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in San Giorgio su Legnano last month and in Monaco she secured a dominant victory, winning by 44 seconds ahead of Norway’s Ine Bakken. Jenipher Contois of France was third in 16:28.

On Feb. 2, German sports brand Puma announced they have signed the reigning Olympic 100m champion, Italy’s Marcell Lamont Jacobs, to a long-term contract.

In 2021, Jacobs sprinted onto the scene by winning a series of big races, including Olympic gold in the 100m and the 4x100m relay. He is also the reigning European 100m champion and the world and European 60m indoor champion, two titles he won in 2022. His personal best over the 100m is 9.80 seconds.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jacobs, as Usain Bolt’s successor, to the PUMA Family,” said Pascal Rolling, head of sports marketing at Puma. “With Jacobs, Andre de Grasse, Shericka Jackson, Elaine Thompson-Herah and many others, PUMA has an incredible lineup of sprint athletes ahead of some very important track and field events this year and next.”

Last summer, Jacobs pulled out of the World Championship semi-final in Eugene due to an injury he suffered to his biceps femoris (part of the hamstring). His injury also resulted in him withdrawing from three Diamond League meets earlier in the season.

Jacobs has over one million followers on Instagram, where he is known as “crazylongjumper”, a reference to the event he first competed in as a pro—the long jump. Jacobs was previously with Nike during all four of his major championship wins.

“The combination of his athletic success and his great personal style makes him an ideal ambassador for Puma,” said Rolling in a press release.

Jacobs will make his season debut this Saturday in Poland, wearing Puma’s new exclusive evoSPEED Tokyo Nitro spikes, which offer the ultimate combination of power and propulsion for maximum speed.

The 10K Valencia Ibercaja is finalizing the details to offer again a great show in what will be its 15th edition. The race, which is currently approaching 11,000 registered participants, will feature a hundred elite athletes of 15 different nationalities in search of their best times in the city of running.

The fastest 10K in the world continues to set the bar high and, after the World Record still in force achieved in 2020 by Rhonex Kipruto (26:24), on January 15, 2023 will seek to break other records. In fact, the recordwoman Yalemzerf Yehualaw, who achieved the women's world record this year 2022 in Castellón (29:14), will be at the starting line of the 10K Valencia Ibercaja and will try to beat it.

The Ethiopian will not be alone in this feat, as she will be accompanied by her compatriot Ejgayehu Taye Haylu, who holds the 5K world record (14:19, Barcelona 2021). Also, Norwegian athlete Karoline Grøvdal, who holds her country's national 5,000ml record and was recently proclaimed European Cross Country Champion, will try to achieve the European 10K record.

The fact that the two fastest women in the world in 10 and 5 kilometers on the road participate in the 10K Valencia Ibercaja is the result of the work done for many months led by the Sports Director of the event, José Enrique Muñoz Acuña.

"It is a great pride to have the two athletes who hold the world record in 10K and 5K," said Acuña, who has advanced that the women's lineup continues to dazzle with other athletes who also have very important marks such as the national record of 10K (Meraf Bahta) and Half Marathon (Sarah Lahti) of Sweden or the 3,000m steeplechase of Germany (Kristina Hendel). "In women, we will have a total of eight U31 athletes, ten U32 athletes and nine U33 athletes," he explains.

International men's elite

As for the participation of elite male athletes, he highlights that the race will have four U27 runners led by the Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet Berhe, who achieved the mark of 26:48 in Hengelo (2019). "We will have - adds Acuña - five U27 athletes, more than 20 U28 athletes, about 40 U29 athletes and around 100 U30 athletes."

In addition, up to six runners who hold national records in 5K, 10K or Marathon distances in their country, such as the French athlete Jimmy Gressier or the Burundian athlete Rodrigue Kwizera will also take the start in the Paseo de la Alameda, along with the Kenyan Jacob Krop, who won bronze in the last World Championship in 5000ml, or the athlete who achieved the Ethiopian national record in 3000mlm Getnet Wale.

"We want, in men, to approach the European record and, with the African armada, to look for sub 27 records and even approach the World Record, without being a specific objective of this edition". Thus, the 2023 edition "will be the most competitive of all editions. The best European athletes want to run the 10K Valencia Ibercaja, and we have been working for months in that direction".

"The goal of the race is to become more international year after year and reach more and more countries. We are a world reference for the distance and the best athletes want to run in Valencia," Acuña explains. The presence of athletes of up to fifteen different nationalities stands out. Among the most represented countries are Ethiopia, Kenya, France, Great Britain, Holland and Sweden.

Acuña has indicated that in the 10K Valencia Ibercaja "we will continue working to maintain the high level achieved in the 2020 edition when Rhonex Kipruto got the World Record (26:24), Julien Wanders the European Record (27:13) and Sheila Chepkirui the best female time of the circuit (29:46)".

Olympian and two-time European cross country champ Aras Kaya has been given a three-year ban for doping after testing positive for erythropoietin (EPO). EPO is a hormone that promotes red blood cell production, improving endurance.

Kaya, 28, was born in Kenya but competes for Turkey, after moving there in 2015 and receiving citizenship in 2016. He tested positive at the Brasov Running Festival 10K in Brasov, Romania in September, according to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). Kaya was given a four-year ban but admitted he was at fault and opted not to fight the case, reducing his ban to three years.

In 2021, Kaya took silver at the Euro cross country champs, runner-up to Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and ran to bronze in 2018. He was set to run last weekend’s Euro Cross in Turin, Italy, but was a late withdrawal with his doping ban imminent, Athletics Weekly reported.

Kaya won the 2016 Euro cross country senior men’s title and took second in 2019 to Robel Fsiha of Sweden. Fsiha tested positive for artificial testosterone in 2020 and was banned for four years, elevating Kaya to the gold medal position. Kaya has a half-marathon PB of 60:51 and finished third in the 2022 European 10,000m cup.

In the last year, Kaya was reported to have been in the process of receiving Russian nationalization, as he has been based in the Russian city of Kazan.

The 57th San Silvestre Vallecana, a World Athletics Elite Label Road Race and possibly the most prestigious of the myriad of New Year's Eve races around the world, will return to its usual circuit (December 31) after a change last year because of the pandemic.

The women’s race on the slightly downhill 10km point-to-point course – which starts alongside the famous Santiago Bernabeu stadium of Real Madrid and finishes on the pitch of another Spanish first division club, Rayo Vallecano, in the Madrid suburbs – has Kenya’s distance ace Hellen Obiri as the athlete to beat.

The two-time world 5000m champion and Olympic silver medalist finished second in Madrid in 2018 after a thrilling battle with her fellow Kenyan and current world marathon record-holder Brigid Kosgei. Obiri’s outstanding 29:59 time then proved not enough to take the victory, but the 32-year-old will be eager to claim victory in Madrid for the first time on her opening appearance this winter.

Yet the reigning world cross country champion Obiri will face tough opposition provided by Ethiopia’s Degitu Azimeraw, 10 years her junior. Azimeraw is an accomplished road specialist, having recorded the second quickest ever marathon debut when she won in Amsterdam in 2:19:26 in 2019 to also break the course record in the Dutch city.

After another fine performance over the classic distance of 2:19:56 for sixth in Valencia in 2020, the Ethiopian moved to 11th on the world all-time list last October following her runner-up spot in London in a big lifetime best of 2:17:58. Azemiraw boasts a relatively modest 31:03.32 10,000m clocking set in Hengelo a couple of years ago. The NN Running Team athlete will be joined by her teammates Lonah Salpeter of Israel and Haven Hailu from Ethiopia.

The 33-year-old Salpeter holds the European 10km record with a 30:05 time to her credit set in Tilburg in 2019, one year after she won the European 10,000m title in Berlin. She attempted to land an Olympic marathon medal in Sapporo, remaining in a four-unit leading pack until the 36th kilometer, but some stomach problems ultimately hampered her aspirations. After that disappointment, Salpeter bounced back eight weeks later to place fifth at the London Marathon in her second quickest time of 2:18:54, not particularly far from her career best of 2:17:45 run in Tokyo in 2020 which makes her the eighth fastest woman in history.

Watch out too for the 23-year-old Hailu, as she was an unheralded distance runner until this year but clocked 2:20:19 for third in Amsterdam in October. She will compete in the company of her fellow Ethiopian Likina Amebaw Ayel, a 32:20 performer.

The men’s contest is also shaping up well as the classy cast includes the in-form Burundian Rodrigue Kwizera. The 22-year-old is enjoying a fantastic cross country season on Spanish soil, having taken victories at several prestigious events such as Soria, San Sebastian, Atapuerca, Italica and Venta de Banos. While the race record of 26:41 set by Jacob Kiplimo in 2018 seems unreachable, Kwizera should run well under the 28-minute barrier for the first time in his career.

Trying to deny Kwizera top spot will be Spain’s 2021 sensation Mohamed Katir, who broke three long-standing national records in the short space of 33 days. The rising Spaniard began his tally by clocking 12:50.79 for 5000m in Florence on 10 June, continued with a 3:28.76 1500m performance in Monaco on 9 July and concluded in style by taking the win over 3000m in Gateshead four days later, timed at 7:27.64.

In his first appearance at a major championships, Katir finished eighth at the Tokyo Olympics over 5000m. He more recently took the spoils at the Jean Bouin, a 10km road race held in Barcelona on 28 November, when he outsprinted Eritrea’s Merhawi Mebrahtu after a one-month stint at the altitude of Font Romeu. The 23-year-old’s next primary goal is the indoors, where he will try to excel over 3000m.

Kenya’s Shadrack Koech and Uganda’s Boniface Abel Sikowo should also be in the hunt for a podium place on Friday. The former holds a 27:21 10km lifetime best, while Sikowo is an 8:25.91 3000m steeplechase athlete who is tackling the road events and ran a 1:01:44 half marathon debut in Barcelona in October.

Not to be discounted is Kenya’s Emmanuel Kiplagat, as the 19-year-old clocked 28:28.02 for 10,000m last summer at the altitude of Nairobi.

In addition to Katir, Spanish hopes rest on Nassim Hassaous and Abdessamad Oukhelfen as they finished seventh and 12th respectively at the European Cross Country Championships in Dublin to lead Spain to team silver, while marathon runners Ayad Lamdassem (2:06:35) and Yago Rojo (2:08:56) will be aiming for a top 10 spot. The Tokyo Olympics 1500m 13th-placed Ignacio Fontes will also be in contention.

Weather forecasters predict perfect conditions for the race, with a mild and windless night, and temperatures between 12 and 14ºC by the time of the event.

British and European 10km record-holder will take on distance on the streets of Glasgow.

Eilish McColgan will be back on home turf this autumn as she takes on the Great Scottish Run on October 2.

The 31-year-old holds the British and European 10km record – a time of 30:19 which she set at the 2022 Great Manchester Run – and will be confident of another fast time in Scotland’s biggest city.

McColgan was meant to make her much anticipated marathon debut in London on October 2 but after experiencing low blood sugar levels during long training runs – a condition called ‘rebound hypoglycaemia’ – she delayed her first taste of 26.2 miles until April.

The Scottish athlete has had a quite extraordinary year that has seen her set British records over 5km, 10km and the half-marathon, while on the track McColgan also claimed four major championship medals, including a famous Commonwealth 10,000m gold medal for Scotland in Birmingham.

She became the first British distance runner to compete in six championships outdoor finals in the same season and covered an astonishing 31 miles over five weeks on the track.

At the Great North Run (September 11), McColgan was the official honorary starter, setting 60,000 runners on their way from Newcastle to South Shields in the world’s biggest half-marathon.

“It’s been a great year for me, culminating in my medals on the track, the highlight was my Commonwealth Games victory, roared on by the crowd,” McColgan said.

“After postponing my marathon debut until next year and being involved in last weekend’s Great North Run, I feel I have one more race left in me this season.

“I can think of no better place to do that than to come home and take to the streets of Glasgow over 10km on October 2 at the Great Scottish Run.”

“It was a real honour to see Eilish get the Great North Run underway last weekend,” Paul Foster, Chief Executive of the Great Run Company said. “She has been an amazing ambassador for our sport and continues to inspire people around the UK on and off the track.

“It’s an incredibly exciting prospect to have Eilish completing a stellar season with a debut performance at the Great Scottish Run. I’m sure our runners will be delighted to have the opportunity to run alongside her in person.”

“The Great Scottish Run is one of the UK’s premier running events and Scotland’s biggest 10km & half-marathon.

On the final evening of the 25th European Athletics Championships at Olympic Stadium here, Spain’s Mariano Garcia and Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa captured the final two distance medals on offer.  Garcia, who won the world indoor title at 800m last March, added the European outdoor title here tonight in a personal best 1:44.85.  Crippa, who won the bronze medal in the 5000m five days ago, won the 10,000m in 27:46.13.  He became the first Italian man to win the European 10,000m title in 32 years.

Although he came into the race as the current world indoor champion, Garcia wasn’t the favorite for gold.  He had never broken 1:45 –either indoors or out– and he was faced with the daunting challenge of beating reigning world 1500m champion, Jake Wightman of Great Britain.  Wightman, who stepped down in distance for these championships after running the 1500m at both the World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games, said before these championships began that he was particularly motivated to compete well here.

“Coming here to do the 800 is just something I’m actually excited to do,” Wightman said.  He continued: “I want to show I can be as competitive over eight as fifteen.”

And indeed, he was.  Running an intelligent race, Wightman let Garcia lead at 400 meters (52.07).  The Scotsman sat in the main group with Ireland’s Mark English and his British teammate Ben Pattison and continued to stay slightly behind Garcia through 600 meters (1:18.59).  Wightman was where he wanted to be.

“I was just ready to race and did not care too much about the splits,” Wightman told the European Athletics mixed zone team.  “It was more about the position in the race to get medals.”

Coming around the final bend Garcia had the slightest of leads, but he was running on the rail and had the shortest line to the finish.  English was also well-positioned behind Garcia, while Wightman was out in lane two and also had Belgium’s Eliott Crestan to pass who was between him and Garcia.  The Spaniard’s strategy of leading in the second half was about to pay off.

“When I decided to take the lead, I knew I had to give it my all,” Garcia said.  “Because towards the end of the race, that’s when you have less energy, so I need to get this right.”

In the final 100 meters Wightman was able to make it close.  He got ahead of English and was closing down Garcia but just couldn’t catch him before the line.  Only 6/100ths of a second separated them, and Wightman got silver in 1:44.91.

“I was very close to the gold, and I would be very glad to get that, but still I am pretty happy with the silver,” Wightman said.  “I was not quite close enough in the last straight and it is tough when you are not that close with a strong opponents.”

English, who won the bronze medal at his first European Championships in 2014, got the bronze in 1:45.19.

“I am really pleased to get the bronze medal,” English said.  “I can’t really ask for more.”

Sweden’s Andreas Kramer nearly caught English and finished fourth in 1:45.38.  He was in last place with 110 meters to go in the race.

Crippa’s victory was achieved by a fast start, a slow middle and a fast finish.  France’s Jimmy Gressier decided to attack the field right from the gun, running an improbably-fast first lap of 61.6 seconds.  The Frenchman said that he felt most comfortable going hard from the gun.

“I go fast because it’s my best strategy,” Gressier told Race Results Weekly in English.  “I like (to) run fast.  It is the same as cross country; I like to push the run.”

The field immediately strung out.  Gressier had Britain’s Marc Scott and Turkey’s Aras Kaya right on his heels through 3000m (8:09.9), and the leaders were on pace to run 27:13.  Scott expected Gressier to push early and was ready for that.

“I thought he’d do something like that just knowing the type of character he is,” Scott told Race Results Weekly.  “But it’s nothing most of the field can’t handle because we all knew it was going to come back.”

Indeed, when Scott took over the lead at 3600 meters, lap times fell to the 70-second range and the field bunched up again.  France’s Yoann Kowal tried a solo breakaway but by 4800 meters he was absorbed.  Kaya was the nominal leader at 5000m (13:54.2) with Crippa and Scott right behind.  Crippa, who won the bronze medal at the 2018 edition of these championships, was feeling confident.

“Compared to fours years ago, in Berlin 2018, I feel I have changed a lot – especially my mindset,” he said.  “I am much stronger mentally than I was in the past.”

He used that mental strength to hold back in the second half of the race.  He led for five laps through 8400 meters averaging a not-too-fast 67 seconds per lap.  He didn’t immediately react when Norway’s Zerei Kbrom Mezngi took the lead at 8800 meters and built up a small lead over Crippa, Gressier, Britain’s Emile Cairess, and France’s Yann Schrub.  Instead, he waited for the final 200 meters to try and catch the tall Norwegian.  The crowd roared as Crippa began to close from at last 50 meters back.

“I believed in myself, and I knew I could do what I did tonight,” Crippa said.

With about 80 meters to go, Crippa passed Mezngi to seal the victory.  Mezngi held his speed and got the silver in 27:46.94, a personal best, while Schrub managed to pull away from Gressier and get the bronze in 27:47.13, also a personal best.

“I kept some energy and was able to use it on the last meters,” said Schrub, who is a medical student.  “I would have never thought that I could win a medal today.”

Eilish McColgan, 31, won her first major title as she triumphed in the event at the Commonwealth Games 12 days ago.

Having also finished second in the 5,000m at Birmingham 2022, the Scot earned another silver as she ran clear of Israel's Lonah Chemtai Salpeter.

Can kicked clear with seven laps to go to win in 30:32.57. 

"I'm pleased. I'm obviously disappointed, I would have loved to become European champion tonight - but tired, tired legs," McColgan told BBC Sport.

A fortnight of soaring glories continued for Eilish McColgan as she fought off her extreme post Commonwealth Games fatigue, and the attentions of a high-class field, to claim a brilliant European 10,000m silver in Munich. The 31-year-old had been so weary before this race that she had spent the day in a deep slumber. Yet fuelled by caffeine and a desire for her third medal in 12 days, she produced another performance of immense grit and steel.

In blustery conditions, McColgan applied the template that had served her so well in Birmingham, pushing to the front early and applying a cobra-like squeeze for lap after painful lap. But this time the Kenyan-born Turkish athlete Yasemin Can proved to have a powerful antidote.

With seven laps remaining Can made a decisive move, breaking away before coming home the winner. But McColgan had enough in the tank to beat Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter for silver.

 “I felt very tired all this week,” McColgan admitted afterwards. “I hadn’t slept for several nights after the 10,000m in Birmingham and then I had to do it again in the 5,000m. And then all the media the following day when you’re up at the crack of dawn and on your feet all day – I’m not used to that.

“All I did today was sleep. My roommate just thought I was dead. And even though the housekeeper came in, I didn’t even hear it. I was just totally knocked out.”

However McColgan still packed a punch when it mattered. After a sedate opening kilometre, she decided enough was enough and kicked on. Soon the field was strung out and screaming. With 18 of the 25 laps remaining, only four athletes were left in contention. And while gold ultimately proved beyond her, this was another impressive performance.

“I didn’t want a last kilometre burn-up,” McColgan said. “But when the pace went up, I just didn’t quite have that zip. But it was probably to be expected. I’m not a superhuman and I have to respect that my legs were going to be tired.

“And I knew it was going to be tough with Can. I knew she was the one to beat tonight and she just was super strong. I couldn’t stay with her.”

Fellow Britons Samantha Harrison and Jessica Judd finished sixth and 10th respectively.

McColgan followed in the footsteps of her mother Liz - Commonwealth 10,000m champion in both 1986 and 1990 - as she recorded the biggest win of her career on 4 August.

In a hugely impressive season, McColgan also broke the European 10km, British half-marathon and Scottish 10,000m records earlier this year.

Though illness and injury hindered her World Championships medal aspirations in July, the 2018 European 5,000m silver medallist has returned to form emphatically - delivering one of the key moments of Birmingham 2022 as she out-kicked Kenyan Irene Cheptai in front of a packed Alexander Stadium.

In Munich's Olympia stadion, McColgan took it upon herself to increase the pace after a relaxed opening kilometre and by halfway only Can, defending champion Salpeter and Germany's Konstanze Klosterhalfen were able to remain in touch.

But Can, champion in 2016, made her stunning bid for gold with over a quarter of the race remaining, surging away from the competition to leave McColgan and Salpeter to chase.

While they could not close the gap, McColgan was able to move clear of Salpeter on the final lap, finishing in 30:41.05.

The presence on the final entry-list of the Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs adds a huge and intriguing element to the sprints at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships from 15-21 August, part of the wider multisport European Championships.

The 27-year-old Italian was a surprise winner at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in a European record of 9.80, although his win over 60m at the European Athletics Indoor Championships earlier in the year indicated his rising potential having started his career primarily as a long jumper. 

In March this year he beat the defending world indoor champion Christian Coleman to the world indoor 60m title in Belgrade but Jacobs’ outdoor season has been undermined so far by illness and muscle problems which forced him to scratch from the semifinals at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon.

It will be a huge feature of the Munich 2022 athletics programme if he can toe the line in the 1972 Olympic stadium – and it will be fascinating to see what degree of fitness he has been able to reclaim. 

On the eve of the championships, Jacobs’ coach Paolo Camossi was optimistic about his prospects in the Munich Olympic Stadium next week. "He's running free, he's having fun, the workouts are promising. If we are here in Munich it is because he is fine and can compete…Marcell is the Olympic gold medalist and he is here to win, but it is not a race to be taken lightly," said Camossi as quoted by FIDAL.

Among his prospective rivals include Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes who stands ready to defend the 100m title he won in Berlin four years ago in a championship record of 9.95.

Hughes had an ultimately frustrating time at last summer’s Olympics, false-starting in the individual 100m final and then seeing the 4x100m silver-medal winning performance to which he had contributed annulled because of a positive doping test for team-mate CJ Ujah. 

Last week he indicated he is in fine racing form as he won Commonwealth silver in the 200m in Birmingham and helped England win 4x100m gold. 

While Jacobs won the Olympic title in 9.80, he has only run 10.04 this year although he did open his season with a marginally wind-aided 9.99. Hughes is second fastest this season with 9.97 but top spot goes to his enigmatic fellow Briton Reece Prescod, who ran 9.93 this season at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava – into a significant headwind. 

France’s Meba-Mickael Zeze is the third sub-10 second performer this season with 9.99 and will be in medal contention along with home sprinter Lucas Ansah-Peprah, who has clocked 10.04 this season. 

And it doesn’t do to rule out the experienced French performer Jimmy Vicaut, who has run 10.10 this year but has a best of 9.86 - the former European record which Jacobs surpassed when he blazed to the Olympic title in Tokyo last summer.

A clash of youth and experience in the 200m

Fresh from a medal at the Commonwealth Games Hughes will also fancy his medal chances in the 200m, where his British teammate Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, silver medalist four years ago, is also entered. 

Turkey’s defending champion Ramil Guliyev, who has a best of 19.76 from the 2018 European Athletics Championships where he came within 0.04 of Pietro Mennea’s long-standing European record, has run 20.21 this year. 

Zeze will also double up, and is looking good for a podium place given his 19.97 personal best this season. 

But the most intriguing presence will be that of 18-year-old Israeli Blessing Afrifah, who won the world U20 title in Cali in a European U20 record of 19.96 - to surpass Guliyev’s previous mark of 20.04 - and in so doing beat Botswana’s hugely favoured Letsile Tebogo, who had earlier won the 100m title in a world U20 record of 9.91 despite showboating over the final 30 meters. 

Afrifah was born in Tel Aviv and raised in Israel to parents from Ghana - his father came to Israel as an employee of the Ghanaian consulate – and was granted permanent residence in 2010. 

Will this hugely talented runner be able to adapt to the pressures and rigors of a senior international competition less than two weeks after his record-breaking exploits in Cali? It will be fascinating to see. 

Also in the 200m mix will be a sprinter who brought home the baton for a historic 4x100m victory at last year’s Tokyo 2020 Games - Italy’s Filippo Tortu - who has run a personal best of 20.10 this season and harbors aspirations of broaching the 20 second-barrier for the first time. 

Jacobs and Tortu are also named in an Italian 4x100m relay squad that could produce another historic performance in Munich although a squad - admittedly devoid of Jacobs who was injured - didn’t make it through the heats at the World Athletics Championships.

Reigning champions Great Britain, France, hosts Germany and Turkey will all offer strong opposition along with surprise Tokyo 2020 Olympic finalists Denmark.

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen will be heavily involved in the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships, part of the wider multisport European Championships, as he defends the 1500m and 5000m titles he won as a 17-year-old at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships. 

The Olympic 1500m champion and world 5000m champion will not, however, face the either of his brothers Filip and Henrik who are both injured nor the Brit who unexpectedly beat him to the world 1500m title in Eugene last month, Jake Wightman. 

The latter is concentrating on the 800m in Munich – the event he originally planned to do at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games until he was nudged back to the longer distance because of the number of friends and family who had bought tickets for the final last Saturday when he won bronze in a high quality final in 3:30.53. 

With a personal best of 1:44.18 from 2020, Wightman has a realistic chance of adding another European medal to the bronze he won over 1500m in Berlin four years ago – and his victory over 1000m at the Monaco Diamond League meeting on Wednesday night in 2:13.88, ninth fastest of all-time, will have done his confidence no harm at all. 

France’s Benjamin Robert has the fastest 2022 time of all entrants – the 1:43.75 he clocked in winning at the Paris Diamond League on 18 June in boisterous fashion, squeezing in between the two leaders with enough physicality to be disqualified before being reinstated on appeal. If things get physical in Munich, Robert is unlikely to come off second best. 

Tony van Diepen is also well acquainted with the hurly-burly of the track having been a part of the Dutch teams that won 4x400m silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games and mixed 4x400m silver at the World Championships in Oregon. 

Individually, van Diepen has won European indoor silver in 2021 and bronze in 2019 over 400m and has a best 800m time of 1:44.14 set this year in Paris after M. Robert had burst past him at the Stade Charlety. 

Robert’s compatriot Gabriel Tual, seventh in last year’s Olympic final, is third fastest on this year’s European list with 1:44.23, set in – you’ve guessed it – Paris. But the French team will be without the popular Pierre-Ambroise Bosse, the 2017 world champion, due to injury.

Poland’s Patryk Dobek has run 1:44.59 this year and even though he exited in the heats at the World Athletics Championships, he can also draw upon the experience of winning bronze at last year’s Olympics in Tokyo. 

Other medal prospects include Sweden’s Andreas Kramer (1:44.59), Ireland’s Mark English (1:44.76), fellow Brits Ben Pattison (1:44.60) and Kyle Langford (1:44.61), Spain's reigning world indoor champion Mariano Garcia (1:45.12) and the very experienced former two-time world medallist Amel Tuka from Bosnia and Herzegovina (1:46.15) whose lifetime best of 1:42.57 dates back to 2015.

Aside from Bosse, another notable absentee will be the three-time reigning champion Adam Kszczot from Poland who retired at the start of the year.

Ingebrigtsen's path to double gold is clearer although not without challenges

With Wightman elsewhere, Ingebrigtsen will surely feel happier about the prospect of his 1500m defence, but he will still face a field full of Spanish and British medal threats. 

Second on this year’s European list with 3:30.20, Spain’s Mario Garcia will be looking to give the Norwegian wonderboy another run for his money after finishing fourth - two places behind Ingebrigtsen - in Oregon. 

The Brits dominate the 2022 European list with six athletes in the top nine and despite the absence of Wightman and Olympic bronze medallist Josh Kerr, Jake Heyward (3:31.08), Neil Gourley (3:32.93) and Matt Stonier (3:32.50) form a trio with clear medal-winning ability.

But Ingebrigtsen, who ran 3:29.47 to take world silver, and ran an Olympic and European record of 3:28.32 at the Tokyo 2020 Games, should have enough to cover any challenge in both events. 

In the 5000m, it might be the athlete who appears second from last on the entry-list in terms of season's bests who could provide the biggest challenge to Ingebrigtsen. That athlete is Spain’s Mohammed Katir who won a bronze medal behind Ingebrigtsen in the 1500m at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon and will be focusing solely on the longer event in Munich.

Katir, 24, has a modest season's best of 13:43.61 from the Spanish Championships but he showed what he can do over the longer distance by running a national record of 12:50.79 in Rome last summer in the same race where Ingebrigtsen broke the European record with 12:48.65.

Another strong potential challenger is the experienced Spaniard Adel Mechaal, who was fifth in the Olympic 1500m final last year and set a 5000m personal best of 13:06.02 in Oslo in June. Mechaal didn't make it through to the final of the World Athletics Championships but that wasn't too surprising as he had only just recovered from an untimely bout of coronavirus which forced him to miss the 1500m.

In both the 5000m and 10,000m, watch out for Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa, 25, who has been a star performer in numerous European competitions, winning bronze at the 2019 European Cross Country Championships and the European 10,000m Cup in the same year. 

Crippa has the fastest time among the entrants based on season’s best performances in the 10,000m with 27:16.18 ahead of another showboating, talented figure in Jimmy Gressier of France – he of the famous faceplant as he won the 2018 European U23 cross country title. This didn’t stop him from walking through the line to win the same title the following year, demonstrating just how much time he had to spare. 

There weren’t quite the same histrionics at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Dublin last December but Gressier let his running do the talking and he came away with his first senior medal in a race where Ingebrigtsen ruled triumphant once again.

Gressier will be focusing solely on the 10,000m in Munich and the Frenchman is the second fastest performer this year with 27:24.51 which he set at the European 10,000m Cup on home soil in Pacé in May when he ran away from the field for the individual title.

Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor, whose career was traumatized in June 2020 when he was hit by a motorbike during a training run and required surgery on a broken tibia, is due to contest his first major championship marathon in Eugene on July 17.

The 29-year-old from Nyen was named on the Kenyan team for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 along with 33-year-old Lawrence Cherono – who missed a medal by one place in the marathon at last year’s Olympics – and 35-year-old Barnabas Kiptum.

Kamworor, confident and outgoing, was flying high when he had his accident.

Although he had performed to high levels on the track, where he earned 10,000m silver at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, it was on grass and roads that he had excelled, winning the world cross-country senior titles in 2015 and 2017, and world half marathon titles in 2014, 2016 and 2018.

In his first competitive marathon in 2012 he finished third in Berlin in 2:06:12, and he was a consistent presence on the podium at World Majors Marathons thereafter, particularly in New York, where he finished second in 2015, first in 2017, third in 2018 and first again in 2019.

Kamworor ran his first race since the accident in January 2021, winning the Kenyan Police Cross Country Championships before going on to secure a place on Kenya’s Olympic 10,000m team after winning the national trials, only to have to pull out with an ankle injury.

But at the Valencia Marathon last December he was able to perform to the peak of his ability once more as he set a personal best of 2:05:23 in finishing fourth.

At the previous year’s running in Valencia, Cherono was second in a personal best of 2:03:04, putting him eighth on the world all-time list, having made his World Marathon Majors breakthrough in 2019 when he won in Boston in 2:07:57 and then Chicago in 2:05:45.

Like Kamworor, Kiptum also set a personal best last year as he clocked 2:04:17 in placing third at the Milan Marathon and he has a solid top-three record in virtually every race he has contested.

Such is the depth of Kenyan talent that they can name 2017 world champion Geoffrey Kirui as a reserve.

Meanwhile Kenya’s perennial rivals Ethiopia will be looking to their current world champion Lelisa Desisa, who found the way to win in the steamy heat of Doha three years ago, to make the most of his wild card entry to this year’s competition.

Desisa had early track success, winning the African U20 10,000m title in 2009, and he has since become a highly consistent performer at the highest level, achieving podium finishes four times in New York, including victory in 2018, and four times in Boston, where he won in 2013 and 2015.

He also has championship pedigree, having earned world silver in 2013 six years before his Doha gold, and has a personal best from 2013 of 2:04:45.

The formidable talent Ethiopia can call upon was made clear when it was confirmed that Desisa will have as teammates Tamirat Tola, Mosinet Geremew and Seifa Tura.

Tola earned Olympic 10,000m bronze in 2016 and world marathon silver in 2017. He set his personal best of 2:03:38 last year.

Geremew took silver behind Desisa at the 2019 World Championships, having finished second at that year’s London Marathon in 2:02:55, the third-fastest time in history.

Tura set his personal best of 2:04:29 last year in Milan before going on to win the Chicago Marathon in 2:06:12.

Uganda, the rising nation in distance running, earned this title in 2013 thanks to their 2012 Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich. But the 33-year-old hasn’t been selected for Oregon, nor have Stephen Kissa, who ran a national record of 2:04:48 in Hamburg earlier this year, and Victor Kiplangat who was third in the second-fastest time ever by a Ugandan, 2:05:09.

Instead, Filex Chemonges, Fred Musobo and Jackson Kiprop will run the World Championships marathon, according to the Uganda Athletics Federation. So Kiprop, who helped Kiprotich to win the 2013 world title, is back at the World Championships for the first time since 2015.

Kissa, meanwhile, is due to be in Oregon in the 10,000m, where he will run with fellow Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei, the world 5000m and 10,000m record-holder, while Kiplangat is reported to be running the Commonwealth Games marathon.

Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands and Belgium’s Bashir Abdi earned surprise silver and bronze medals respectively at the Olympics last year, but went on to confirm that their performance in Sapporo was anything but a fluke. Abdi set a European record of 2:03:36 to win the Rotterdam Marathon just two months later, while Nageeye was victorious at the Rotterdam Marathon earlier this year in a Dutch record of 2:04:56, finishing ahead of Abdi.

Both men will line up for the marathon in Oregon, only this time it will be less of a surprise if they reach the podium.

The United States will be looking to the highly consistent figure of Galen Rupp. After taking Olympic 10,000m silver in 2012, Rupp moved to the roads and earned Olympic bronze in 2016.

In 2017 he became the first US man to win the Chicago Marathon since 2002 and finished second at the Boston Marathon. He qualified for Oregon by finishing eighth at last year’s Olympics.

The championships will be in Rupp’s home state, in the same city where he made his first Olympic team in 2008 while he was a student at the University of Oregon.

The other US selections are Elkanah Kibet and Colin Mickow. Kibet, who is with the US military, finished 16th at the 2017 World Championships and set a personal best of 2:11:15 in finishing fourth at last year’s New York marathon.

Mickow is a 32-year-old full-time financial analyst for an organic and natural foods distributor who took up road running six years after finishing his college track career. He qualified for his first international vest after being the top US man home at last year’s Chicago Marathon, where he was sixth in 2:13:31.

Japan’s trio of male runners will be headed by Kengo Suzuki, who set a national record of 2:04:56 in February 2021 at the Lake Biwa marathon in Otsu. Daniel Do Nascimento of Brazil has run a 2:04:51 personal best this year and is another one to watch.

The three-loop World Athletics Championships marathon course only varies by about seven meters between its high and low points and the weather is likely to be considerably cooler than it was in Sapporo or Doha, where the men's marathon had to be held at midnight and the start time temperature was 29C/84F with 51% humidity.

Women's marathon

Ruth Chepngetich will defend her marathon title at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 on July 18 by virtue of a wild card.

Chepngetich claimed the first gold medal of the 2019 World Championships, clocking 2:32:43 in the steamy heat to gain her first major gold.

She went on to finish third at the 2020 London Marathon before a roller coaster 2021, when she set a world record of 1:04:02 at the Istanbul Half Marathon, failed to finish the Tokyo 2020 Marathon in Sapporo but then won the Chicago Marathon.

At this year’s Nagoya Women's Marathon she won in 2:17:18, just 10 seconds off her personal best and the second-fastest ever women-only marathon.

She will be joined on the Kenyan team in Oregon by Judith Jeptum and Angela Tanui. Jeptum set a French all-comers’ record of 2:19:48 to win the Paris Marathon this year, while Tanui won the 2021 Amsterdam Marathon in 2:17:57.

Ethiopia will be represented by Gotytom Gebreslase, who won the 2021 Berlin Marathon on her debut and finished third in this year’s Tokyo Marathon in 2:18:18, Ababel Yeshaneh, second at the 2019 Chicago Marathon in a personal best of 2:20:51, and Ashete Bekere, third in last year’s London Marathon in 2:18:18, who has run 2:17:58 this year.

USA’s Keira D’Amato, who broke the North American record when winning January’s Houston Marathon in 2:19:12 – taking 24 seconds off the mark set by Deena Kastor in 2006 – has answered a late call to join the host nation’s team following the withdrawal of Olympic bronze medalist Molly Seidel.

Seidel has been suffering from a hip injury that forced her to drop out of the Boston Marathon in April and withdrew from the team after being unable to resolve her issue, giving the 37-year-old D’Amato, who only began serious marathon running in 2017, three weeks to prepare, but she is reported to be in “great shape”.

Her teammates will be Emma Bates, runner-up at last year’s Chicago Marathon, and Sara Hall, who finished second at the 2020 London Marathon and third at last year’s Chicago Marathon.

Japan has named Mizuki Matsuda, who has a personal best of 2:20:52, Mao Ichiyama, who has run 2:21:02, and Hitomi Niiya, who has a best of 2:21:17.

Britain will be represented by Rose Harvey, Olympian Jess Piasecki and Charlotte Purdue, who ran a personal best of 2:23:26 in finishing 10th at last year’s London Marathon.

Other names to watch out for are Bahrain’s Eunice Chumba, who ran 2:20:02 in Seoul in April this year, and Israel’s European 10,000m champion Lonah Salpeter, who won the 2020 Tokyo Marathon in 2:17:45 and was going well in the lead group at last year’s Olympic marathon before dropping down to 66th place in the closing stages.

After also dropping out of the 2019 World Championships marathon, Salpeter will be seeking to make the global impact her talent warrants.

Meanwhile Eritrea’s Nazret Weldu, who has run a personal best of 2:21:56 this year, is another one to watch.

Eilish McColgan will make her much anticipated marathon debut in London on October 2 as she takes on a world-class field around the streets of the British capital.

The 31-year-old Scot broke Paula Radcliffe’s British half-marathon record of 66:47 on February 19, after clocking 66:26 at Ras Al Khaimah and now feels like it’s the right time to take on the marathon.

Since McColgan started competing on the roads she has broken the British 5km record, European 10km record and set a British best over 10 miles.

Given her natural progression through the longer distances on both track and field, it was always a question of not if but when McColgan took on 26.2 miles.

“It’s really just coming from a confidence side of things,” McColgan says. “I think I’ve known for like a very long time that this is where my career would go. I think my mum and my dad have known even longer than I have. From being a young kid they always said the marathon was the event I’d end up going to.

“The way I’ve progressed over the years now through the distances, taking on both the 5km and 10km, I remember thinking, ‘I’ll never ever run a half-marathon’. And yet now, I’m excited. I couldn’t wait to get out and race it against some of those the top athletes in the world.

“It is my choice. I feel I’m going to do it when I’m ready to do it and I think that’s that time is coming now. I think there’s no better place to do that than the London Marathon.

McColgan takes to the streets of the British capital 26 years after her mum, Liz McColgan won the race. Like Eilish, Liz started out on the track and gradually progressed to the marathon, winning on her debut in New York in 1991 before her triumph in London five years later.

“It’s amazing and it’s a bit surreal,” McColgan adds. “The more iconic images I’ve got in my head as a youngster were my mum running the London Marathon with Buckingham Palace in the background. It’s just incredible that so many years later I’m following in her footsteps and I think she’s excited to see that finally come into action.

“It’s always the iconic event. It was the one where I always watched my mum run as a kid when I sat in the hospitality area and ate all the free food! There’s not a London Marathon that my mum and dad have ever missed. It’s just got a buzz and everyone speaks about it, even those who don’t know much about athletics.”

Although this is McColgan’s debut marathon she does have experience of the London circuit though, having been the pacemaker for Charlotte Purdue last year.

Purdue is also part of the line-up this year which includes world marathon record-holder Brigid Kosgei, defending champion and fellow Kenyan Joyciline Jepkosgei and the fastest-ever female marathon debutante Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia.

“It just feels surreal to me [to hear that],” McColgan adds. “I remember watching Paula [Radcliffe] on the side of the road in Athens and being as devastated as she was. I watched her run the world record in 2003 and it was strange watching it because, given her pace, it was like watching a robot. You thought there was no way somebody could keep it up for 26.2 miles.

“Out of all the records she set this is by far the one the hardest she set. It’s difficult for me to believe that’s it’s almost possible but if you asked me two years ago would I run 30 minutes for 10km, I’d have told you no chance but now I believe I can break that record.”

McColgan also has a busy summer on the track as she races over both 5000m and 10,000m at the World Championships in Oregon before representing Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Ahead of Paris 2024, she wants to focus on the marathon and compete in more road races in the near future.

Tachlowini Gabriyesos, 24, made waves one year ago when he finished 16th in the Olympic marathon in Sapporo, beating some of the world's best marathoners.

“It makes me so proud to once again wear the Athlete Refugee Team vest at the World Championships,” said Gabriyesos, a native of Eritrea who made his Athlete Refugee Team debut at the 2019 World Championships in Doha where he competed in the 5000m.

“I don’t represent a country, but millions of people without one. I want to be a role model for refugee youth around the world and wish to show the world once again that refugees can be strong, that we are hungry for success and that we deserve equal opportunities.”

Gabriyesos fled conflict and bloodshed in Eritrea at age 12 and journeyed through Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt before crossing the Sinai desert on foot to Israel where he's been living since 2010. He began running soon after and eventually found that he was best suited for athletics' longest running event.

At the Hahula Galilee Marathon in Israel in March 2021, Gabriyesos clocked 2:10:55 to become the first refugee athlete to meet an Olympic qualifying standard. He later served as the co-flag bearer for the Olympic Refugee Team at Tokyo’s Opening Ceremonies. After his solid performance in Sapporo's hot and muggy conditions, Gabriyesos improved to 2:10:09 at the Seville Marathon in February.

After its involvement with the inaugural Refugee Olympic Team that competed at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, World Athletics established the Athlete Refugee Team in 2017 to provide refugees with high level training and competitive opportunities.

It is the world’s only year-round team composed solely of refugee athletes. The team has been represented at almost every World Championship event since, in addition to a growing number of continental and regional events, most recently the European 10,000m Cup in May and the African Championships earlier this month.

"On this World Refugee Day, our Athlete Refugee Team brings a powerful and inspirational message of hope and solidarity to the world, at a time when it's truly needed," said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. "They're also showing, through their rapid development and world class performances, that they do belong among the world's best athletes."

Representing a community of 89 million

When the refugee team was introduced at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, that squad of 10 – six competing in athletics – represented 65 million people around the world who had been forcibly displaced from their homes.

That figure soared to more than 82 million by 2020 and, propelled by conflict, the climate crisis and skyrocketing inequality, has grown to 89.3 million at the end of 2021. The six athletes who are set to compete in Eugene next month will represent a community that collectively would be the 17th most populous country on the planet.

Similarly, the number of athletes involved in the World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team project continues to grow. More than 40 athletes are now involved in the programme, training at their respective bases in Kenya, Israel, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Canada and Portugal.

Gabriyesos will be joined by Jamal Abdalmajid Eisa-Mohammed, a native of Sudan, who will make his second consecutive World Championships appearance in the 5000m. The 28-year-old improved his lifetime best over the distance to 13:42.98 at the Olympic Games last year.

Dorian Keletela, 23, will be making his third ART appearance after outings at the 2021 European Indoor Championships and last summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo. In the Japanese capital, he clocked 10.33 to win his 100m heat in the preliminary round, smashing his previous career best by 0.13. He improved to 10.27 last year and at the moment has a 10.47 season's best.

Fouad Idbafdil, a refugee from Morocco who is based in France, rounds out the men's squad. The 34-year-old steeplechase specialist improved his lifetime best to 8:37.94 nine days ago. He too competed on the ART squad in Doha in 2019.

The women’s team is led by Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, who will bring plenty of experience to the start line of the 1500m. The 27-year-old native of South Sudan, who is based at the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation training camp in Ngong, Kenya, will be making her second World Championships appearance after her debut in 2017.

Nadai is a two-time Olympian and most recently competed at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March and the African Championships in Mauritius 11 days ago. She set her 4:31.65 lifetime best in Tokyo last year.

She'll be joined by Atalena Napule Gaspore, another South Sudanese athlete from the Loroupe camp, who will be making her Athlete Refugee Team debut competing in the 800m.

Athlete refugee team for WCH Oregon22

Women 800m: Atalena Napule Gaspore 1500m: Anjelina Nadai Lohalith

Men 100m: Dorian Keletela 5000m: Jamal Abdalmajid Eisa-Mohammed marathon: Tachlowini Gabriyesos 3000m steeplechase: Fouad Idbafdil

Eilish McColgan set a British and European 10km record as she finished runner-up at the Great Manchester Run.

Dundee's McColgan, 31, took two seconds off Paula Radcliffe's mark from 2003 with a time of 30 minutes 19 seconds, four seconds behind Hellen Obiri.

Obiri's fellow Kenyans Ruth Chepngetich (30:29) and Sharon Lokedi (31:05) were third and fourth.

Charlotte Purdue was seventh (32:55) with fellow Briton Steph Twell (33:12) eighth.

The men's race was won by New Zealand's Jake Robertson in 28:06, ahead of Australian Jack Reyner, with Liverpool's Abdulqani Sharif in fifth place.

More than 20,000 racers took part, with applause before the start for the 22 victims of the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack, on its fifth anniversary.

Eilish McColgan came within two seconds of Paula Radcliffe’s long-standing British and European 10km record at the Vitality London 10,000 on Monday (2) morning.

After a frantic sprint finish, McColgan stopped the clock at 30:23 to miss the record by a tantalising margin. However, Eilish did relieve her mother and coach Liz of yet another family record as she improved her Scottish record of 30:38 which had stood since 1989.

This was McColgan’s second near-European record in just over a week, proving the European 5000m silver medallist is back in top shape after testing positive for coronavirus in March. In Malaga last week, McColgan clocked 14:45 for 5km to fall one second short of Sifan Hassan’s European standard bearer.

At twice the distance eight days later, McColgan came within touching distance of Radcliffe’s 10km mark of 30:21 from 2003 which also stood as a world record for more than a decade. However, the European all-time list is headed by Lonah Chemtai Salpeter’s 30:05 clocking from Tilburg in 2019 although that time was not ratified for record purposes.

“I am gutted to have missed the British record by a couple of seconds. I probably didn’t believe I could do it, so I went into the race thinking I’d be happy to run 31:40, but I’m in much better shape than I give myself credit for,” said McColgan.

McColgan passed through halfway in 15:15 - by contrast Radcliffe rocketed through 5km in 14:48 when she clocked 30:21 - and despite mustering up some of her track speed in the last 200 meters, McColgan couldn’t quite revise the record books. 

“I only saw the clock when I turned the corner towards the finish line, and I thought: ‘Oh my god, I could make it in time. I think I probably ran a 200m PB in the push for the finish line. I was so desperate to get the record but hopefully there will be another opportunity to go for it again later this year,” said McColgan who holds the European 10km record in a women’s only race at 30:52.

McColgan won the women’s race by more than one minute from fellow Olympian Jess Piasecki in 31:28 with Samantha Harrison third in 31:44.

In the men’s race, British international Ellis Cross achieved a significant victory over multiple Olympic, European and world 5000m and 10,000m champion Mo Farah who was racing for the first time in almost one year due to a stress fracture. 

Cross broke clear of Farah in the last two kilometers for victory in 28:40 to Farah’s 28:44. "I’m lost for words – I did not expect this in a million years. Honestly, I know it’s a cliché, but I couldn’t believe it. I just felt very good from the get-go. Obviously, I knew Farah had a finish, so the last 2K I thought I’d try and wind it up a bit – try to sting his legs a little bit to hold him off,” said Cross.

More than 16,500 people will take part in the Vitality London 10,000 on Bank Holiday Monday May 2, headed by elite races that will see Sir Mo Farah returning to racing for the first time since June 2021 and the event debut of in-form Eilish McColgan, who could threaten Paula Radcliffe’s 19-year-old British and European 10K record.

Sir Mo is the most successful athlete in the history of the Vitality London 10,000, with seven victories to his name, and the multiple world and Olympic champion will use this year’s event as his first race back since picking up an injury last year while trying to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The 39-year-old will face his long-time friend and adversary Chris Thompson, as well as Phil Sesemann, the first British finisher at last year’s London Marathon. Andy Butchart, however, has had to withdraw from the race.

McColgan comes into the elite women’s race in red-hot form having smashed the British 5K record in Malaga, Spain, last Sunday (April 24). The Scottish star is already the owner of the women’s only British 10K record (30:52), which she set at the Great Manchester Run last year.

Only two British women have ever run faster over 10K than McColgan: Radcliffe, whose European and British record stands at 30:21, and McColgan’s mum, Liz Nuttall (formerly McColgan) who is the Scottish record holder with her personal best of 30:39 set in Orlando in 1989.

McColgan said: “I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my 2022 season than to set a new British 5K record in my first race. Now I’m really looking forward to coming back to the UK and running the Vitality London 10,000 and seeing what shape I am in over 10K.”

Joining McColgan in the elite women’s field is two-time Vitality London 10,000 champion Steph Twell and Jess Piasecki, the sixth fastest British woman of all time over 10K. Charlotte Purdue, who was ninth at The Boston Marathon earlier this month and was due to race, has had to withdraw due to illness.

A record 18 wheelchair athletes will take part this year, with the field led by Paralympic stars David Weir and Shelly Woods.

There will be 10 start waves at the Vitality London 10,000, including a Run for Ukraine wave, where the 2,000 entrants are encouraged to wearing blue and yellow and fundraise for the Ukraine relief effort. One hundred per cent of the discounted £15 entry fees for this wave will be donated by organisers London Marathon Events to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

Anthony Seddon, 40, from Brighton, is one of those who will be joining the Run for Ukraine wave, as part of a 1,569-mile fundraising challenge to raise money for a cause that means so much to him.

Anthony’s wife Anna is Ukrainian and he is running 10 kilometres for as long as it takes to complete 1,569 miles – the distance between the football grounds of Brighton and Hove Albion, the club he supports, and Anna’s favourite football team in her home town of Dnipro.

Anna’s mother has fled Ukraine to live with the couple in Brighton, but the remainder of her family remain in the war-torn country.

Anthony said: “Anna has many friends and family still in Dnipro, some unable to leave but most wanting to stay in their homes.

I met Anna while watching England play football at the Euro 2012 tournament. As it was football that brought us together, I have committed to run those 1,569 miles, the distance from Brighton’s Amex Stadium to the Dnipro Arena by way of running events like the Vitality London 10,000 and other half and full marathons until I complete the distance.

“Between our fundraising page and money donated by friends and family beforehand we have managed to send more than £16,000 of aid so far and we hope we can send so much more. Every penny we raise is spent solely on medical aid.”

After a successful first edition in 2019, the Celebrate You wave returns to this year’s Vitality London 10,000 to promote the mental health benefits that regular exercise delivers.

The wave of 1,000 participants will be led by Celebrate You co-founder, journalist and author Bryony Gordon who will be running her 10th consecutive 10K as part of her ‘10 days of 10Ks’ challenge to promote the importance of activity for mental health and the peer support group Mental Health Mates that she founded in 2016.

Also running in the Celebrate You wave are theatre star Carrie Hope Fletcher, body positivity influencers and models Shareefa J and Jade Seabrook and Helen Thorn, one half of the comedy duo Scummy Mummies.

The Vitality Westminster Mile, staged in partnership with Westminster City Council, takes place on Sunday 1 May, with thousands of participants taking on a series of mile events throughout the day from 10:00 to 14:30.

Among the 15 waves on the day are the #RunforRuth wave for the Ruth Strauss Foundation, led by Sir Andrew Strauss, and a Special Olympics GB Unified Mile. There are also nine family waves, a parkrun wave and a junior wheelchair athletes wave. Parents or guardians have been able to register children under-12 for free.

The free Vitality Wellness Festival takes place in Green Park on both days, featuring exciting free activities for children on the Sunday and the chance to run on the Vitality Tumbleator, a giant treadmill, on both days.

The events share one of the most stunning Start and Finish Lines in sport, with The Mall providing the setting for an iconic start and Buckingham Palace as the backdrop for a stunning finish.

The Vitality London 10,000 will be broadcast live on BBC Sport Online, iPlayer and Red Button, as well as the Vitality London 10,000 Facebook page, from 09:45 to 11:45.

Former world marathon record-holder Paula Radcliffe from Great Britain has been announced as an event ambassador for the 2022 European 10,000m Cup which takes place in Pacé, France on 28 May.

After the 2018 and 2019 editions were held in conjunction with the Night of the 10,000m PBs before the 2021 edition had to be staged behind closed doors in Birmingham due to pandemic restrictions, the next three editions of the European 10,000m Cup will all take place in the Stade Chasseboeuf in Pacé, just outside Rennes.

Radcliffe is still the second fastest marathon runner in history with her 2:15:25 clocking from the 2003 London Marathon and while Sifan Hassan has taken her European 10,000m record into new territory, Radcliffe is still the second fastest European in history with 30:01.09.

She ran that time without pacemakers - and in the pouring rain - at the 2002 European Athletics Championships in Munich and this time remains the championship record some twenty years later. It could very well remain on the books after this year’s European Athletics Championships which return to Munich. 

Reflecting on her achievements, Radcliffe said: “That performance [in Munich] has a very high place in my career because for me, it was truly a target for a long time to win a championship on the track. I thought that perhaps I wouldn’t run quite so fast on the track after moving up to the marathon but in fact it was the opposite.

“The fact the marathon went so well gave me a lot of confidence in myself. It also brought me more strength physically and mentally. Therefore it helped me on the track and that was surely the case in Munich.

“I hadn’t run a 10,000m that season so it was the only occasion I had to try and break my record and perhaps the mythical European record of Ingrid Kristiansen who had held the record for almost as long as I did. I looked up to her in the 1980s, and the way she ran, when I started running.”

Like Kristiansen, Radcliffe was a fierce and committed front runner and just like the Norwegian did at the 1986 European Championships, Radcliffe led almost every step of the race. Her time of 30:01.09 was the second fastest in history up until that point but she rued how close she was to breaking the fabled 30 minute-barrier.

“That's why, when I crossed the line, there were two emotions. There was the emotion of happiness because I was pleased to take the record at last and set a lifetime best but also the emotion of having missed the 30 minute-barrier by 1.09. Perhaps with different conditions I would have done it, perhaps with other competitors in the race I would have done it - but I was pleased nonetheless!” she said.

Radcliffe made her debut at this distance four years prior when the event was known under its original alias of the European 10,000 Metres Challenge. Radcliffe finished second on that day to Portugal’s Fernanda Ribeiro but the Brit was to notch up individual victories at both the 1999 and 2001 editions of the event, each time with winning times inside 31 minutes - 30:40.70 and 30:55.80 respectively.

Having retired from competitive athletics in 2015, Radcliffe is looking forward to being a spectator in Pacé and the organisers are planning to employ many of the innovations which made the 2018 and 2019 editions of the European 10,000m Cup such a success, including a full programme of events - including kids’ and veterans’ races - and allowing spectators to watch and cheer from the track. 

“It’s what I love and I am sure the French can do the same thing as well and produce a beautiful night of athletics. We will cross our fingers that the night will produce some good performances - not too hot, not too windy and especially with a good atmosphere around the track. 

“Having all the spectators around the track will also protect the runners a bit more and it will also give them a bit more motivation,” said Radcliffe.

The hosts will be looking to retain the men’s team title after triumphing last year thanks in no small part to Morhad Amdouni who took the individual victory in a sprint finish ahead of Bashir Abdi from Belgium and Spain’s Carlos Mayo.

How does Radcliffe see this year’s race unfolding?

“[Last year] was a great race. The French team ran super well. At the moment the men’s team in France is really strong with plenty of talent. In the UK, it’s more in the 1500m and 5000m for the most part but we wait to see what the guys will show in the 10,000m. On the women’s side the level is higher with Eilish McColgan,” she said.

In one month from now, when the Olympic cauldron is lit in Tokyo’s National Stadium, the first Games to be held in the midst of a global pandemic will get under way.

But that won’t be the only reason why history will be made in the Japanese capital.

As is the case at every Olympics, dozens of nations will converge on the track, field and roads in a bid for glory, not only for themselves but also for the nations they represent.

Many events will naturally be dominated by the powerhouses within the sport, but there are several disciplines where medals could be won by athletes from nations that have not yet made much of an impact on the Olympic stage.

If, like many sports fans, you enjoy rooting for the underdog at major events, here are three athletes who could make history for their country when they compete in Tokyo next month.

1. Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, marathon - Israel

Lonah Chemtai Salpeter has in recent years progressed to become one of the best distance runners in the world.

In 2018 she won the European 10,000m title, then went on to set national records for the half marathon (1:06:09) and marathon (2:17:45).

She competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio but failed to finish the marathon. She then suffered a similar fate at the 2019 World Championships, having been in contention during the early stages.

But she will be buoyed by the fact that this year’s Olympics is being held in Japan, because last year she won the Tokyo Marathon in a Japanese all-comers’ record of 2:17:45.

Israel has never before won an Olympic medal in athletics. To date, their best result in an athletics discipline has been a fifth-place finish, achieved by triple jumper Hannah Knyazyeva-Minneko in 2016 and high jumper Konstantin Matusevich in 2000.

2. Joseph Fahnbulleh, 200m - Liberia

In the immediate aftermath of the recent NCAA Championships, videos of Joseph Fahnbulleh winning the men’s 200m went semi-viral as fans were stunned by the way he made up ground in the closing stages with his long and powerful stride.

What made his 19.91 victory all the more impressive is the fact he is still only 19 years of age.

Although he has been based in the US for most of his life, Fahnbulleh has Liberian citizenship and he recently announced he will represent them in Tokyo.

No athlete from Liberia has ever finished in the top eight in their event at the Olympics, let alone won a medal. The country’s best result to date was Jangy Addy’s 19th-place finish in the decathlon in 2008.

3. Amel Tuka, 800m - Bosnia & Herzegovina

It was something of a shock when Amel Tuka missed out on the Olympic final in 2016.

Just one year prior, the 800m runner from Bosnia and Herzegovina had clocked a world-leading 1:42.51 before going on to take bronze at the World Championships in Beijing. In 2016 he had hoped to become the first person from his country to win an Olympic medal, but it wasn’t to be.

He once again featured on the podium in 2019, taking silver at the World Championships in Doha. A strong tactician who knows how to produce his best when it matters, Tuka could well be in medal contention again in Tokyo later this year.

Five world champions, four Olympic gold medallists and two world record-holders are set to compete at the FBK Games – a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting – in Hengelo on Sunday (6).

Pole vault world record-holder Mondo Duplantis will be raring to go after his 23-meet winning streak came to an end at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Gateshead at the end of last month. Battling tough conditions, the 21-year-old from Sweden gave the bar a slight nudge on his final attempt at 5.80m – what would have been a winning height – and it came down, meaning victory went to two-time world champion Sam Kendricks.

Kendricks won’t be in Hengelo, but Duplantis will have one eye on the US vaulter’s meeting record and Dutch all-comers’ record of 5.91m.

Olympic champion Thiago Braz and Dutch vaulter Menno Vloon, who set a national indoor record of 5.96m earlier this year, are also in the line-up.

Double world champion Sifan Hassan will return to the track on which she set a European 10,000m record of 29:36.67 last year and will again contest the 25-lap discpline. The Dutch distance runner has tested her form over a range of distances this year, clocking 8:33.62 for 3000m indoors, followed by 14:35.34 for 5000m and 2:01.54 for 800m outdoors.

Kenya’s Daisy Cherotich, New Zealand’s world finalist Camille Buscomb and Canada’s Andrea Seccafien will all be hoping to emerge from the race with lifetime bests.

World 800m champion Halimah Nakaayi will open her 2021 campaign over her specialist distance. The Ugandan middle-distance runner takes on a quartet of Britons – Laura Muir, Kelly Hodgkinson, Jemma Reekie and Adelle Tracey – as well as Norway’s Hedda Hynne and France’s Renelle Lamote.

In the men’s event, indoor sensation Elliot Giles lines up for his first outdoor 800m of the year, taking on fellow Brits Max Burgin – who set a European U20 record of 1:44.14 in Ostrava last month – and Daniel Rowden. Tony van Diepen, one of the Netherlands’ top performers at the World Athletics Relays Silesia 21, is also in the field.

Recent Montreuil winner Abel Kipsang goes in the men’s 1500m where he’ll take on Uganda’s Ronald Musagala and Britain’s sub-3:30 performer Jake Wightman.

Asher-Smith, Kerley and McLeod set to produce sprint highlights

Although she has raced there only once before, world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith has fond memories of racing in Hengelo.

It is where, as a teenager back in 2015, she set her first senior national record over 100m, clocking 11.02. Six years on from that performance, and having bagged many more records and medals, the world 200m champion will be hoping for a sub-11-second clocking to improve on the 11.35 season’s best she recorded when winning in Gateshead, running in heavy rain and into a -3.1m/s headwind.

Nigeria’s world and Olympic medallist Blessing Okagbare, who has a season’s best of 10.90, and two-time world 200m champion Dafne Schippers are also in the line-up.

World 4x400m champion Fred Kerley has so far this year produced his most impressive performances at 100m, clocking 9.91 and 9.96 in recent weeks. In Hengelo, however, he’ll step back up to his specialist 400m discipline and will aim to improve on the 44.60 season’s best he recorded in Doha last week.

The European 10,000m cup is taking place this Saturday, June 5 in Birmingham, U.K. According to European Athletics, 111 athletes from 26 countries will be competing, including an Athlete Refugee team in the men’s race. The highlight of the meet for track fans will be the return of Mo Farah, who will be running his first 10,000m since the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London.

38-year-old Farah will be aiming to hit the Olympic standard of 27:28 on Saturday, which shouldn’t be a problem for the 4-time Olympic gold medalist (twice in the 10,000m, twice in the 5,000m), whose PB at the distance is 26:46.57, set in 2011. He will be toeing the line with other strong British runners, including Marc Scott and Sam Atkin. Both men have already run Olympic qualifying times at the distance with 27:10.41 for Scott and 27:26.58 for Atkin, which should make for an exciting race.

Other notable athletes set to compete in Birmingham include reigning European 10,000m champion Morhad Amdouni from France and European 10,000m silver medallist Bashir Abdi from Belgium. Abdi is one of Farah’s main training partners.

European 5000m silver medallist Eilish McColgan will be the fastest seed on the women’s side, with a recent personal best at the 10,000m of 30:58.94. Several other women are within striking distance of McColgan, however, and with many of them yet to hit the Olympic qualifying standard, we are likely to see some fast racing on Saturday.

Despite being reigning Olympic champion, Mo Farah must still qualify for this summer’s Tokyo Games and on June 5 at a University of Birmingham track that is likely to be bereft of spectators he will take on the rising stars Marc Scott, Jake Smith and Sam Atkin over 25 laps.

The trio have been named as part of the British team for the European 10,000m Cup, which is held as part of the Müller British Athletics 10,000m Championships.

The event, which is also the official Olympic trial for British athletes, sees a strong domestic line up in the women’s race too with Eilish McColgan, Jess Judd and Amy-Eloise Markovc among others.

Farah’s last 10,000m on the track was at the 2017 World Championships in London where he won his sixth world title. Since then he has enjoyed a foray on to the roads and the marathon but he is returning to the track this year to try to win another Olympic track title aged 38.

Since 2017 he has only raced once on the track – in a one-hour run in Brussels last summer – but appears to have been training well and is set to face a new generation of hungry young British runners in a 10,000m showdown.

This is also the first official trial for a major championship that Farah has done since 2010 when he ran the UK Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships.

Behind the scenes of ASICS’ “BE(AT) Your Personal Best” event.

It’s 8:00 am in the French woodland area of Morton, Domaine du Bois aux Daims, on April 24. Situated almost 300 miles from the country’s capital, a select group of Europe’s top runners, including Julien Wanders and Sondre Nordstad Moen, ponder at the start line of ASICS’ “(BE)AT Your Personal Best”, with some preparing for their first taste of competitive running in almost a year.

Lanyard-wearing event organizers disguised behind heavy-duty facemasks scurry around frantically with walkie-talkies and clipboards in hand, as a select few press and photographers scout out the best view points along the course. 

While, from the outside, it might look like any other pre-race meet, the events past year have made things a lot more complex.

Of course a return to a resemblance of normal doesn’t come without its barriers. Following a number of elite-only events like last year’s London Marathon, a handful of behind-closed-doors championships have taken place across the world, many of which have resulted subsequent positive COVID tests. Such is the worry, more recently with the Tokyo Olympicsjust a few months away, both the Jamaican and U.S. relay teams joined a host of others in withdrawing from the upcoming World Relay Championships.

(Photos by Anne-Sophie Soudoplatoff)

This trial and error approach to the now-successful return of athletics has created many barriers to overcome for an event to go ahead which can be both time-consuming and costly — something of an issue to a sport renowned for its severe underfunding in a vast majority of countries. Such barriers, though, for ASICS(TOKYO:7936.T +0.68%) are seen more as a hurdle — and one they’re keen to clear.

Taking place just West of Paris, in the heart of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, ASICS created a biosecure bubble within a Center Parcs location. Alongside negative COVID tests prior to travelling, upon arrival and before departure, each athlete resided alone in separate accommodation, with food and drink delivered to their doors.

For ASICS itself, the event was more than just another race. Three months in the making (a relatively short lead time in this field), the occasion marked the brand’s return to hosting live events and the follow-up to the launch of its new METASPEED Sky sneaker — ASICS’ answer to the “super shoe”. Equipped with a full-length carbon plate and a design that intends to improve its users overall performance, “(BE)AT Your Personal Best” was not only a test of the runners’ current condition in an Olympic year — but a test run of the sneaker itself too.

The 2.5km course saw runners head out along a wide asphalt path, before looping around a roundabout and back to the start. With near-on idyllic running conditions (a slight breeze, but nothing to be considered a headwind) and months of planning and testing behind them, the scene was finally set.

Pre-event much of the talk was about the current the European 10km and half marathon record-holder Julien Wanders’ planned attempt at attacking the 5km record too, but a bout of pneumonia two weeks prior saw him fall off the pace just over halfway. Instead it was Kenya’s Boniface Kibiwott who grabbed a personal best, winning in 13:24, followed by France’s Felix Bour (13:34) and Etienne Daguinos (13:36) who ran a new French under-23 record.

In the men’s 10km, pacer Hillary Kipkoech cruised to victory to set a new world-lead at 27:35, with Spain’s Jorge Blanco (28:27) and Sondre Nordstad Moen (28:35) almost a minute behind, while Sarah Lahti broke the Swedish women’s 5km record. Rounding things out was Mekdes Woldu who achieved a personal best in the women’s 10km with 31:47, finishing almost 2 minutes in front of Austria’s Julia Mayer (33:35).

In total, 24 of the 34 runners achieved personal best times in Domaine du Bois aux Daims, with one world leading time. And while these numbers and personal accolades are important — as well as the clear quality the METASPEED Sky brings — the real success story of ASICS’ “(BE)AT Your Personal Best” is a glimpse into the world of running’s new normal. 

Whether these restrictions stay in place for years to come or they’re simply a temporary measure, its success bodes well for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics and how things might operate on a much larger scale – and suggests that the pandemic won’t keep sport down for long.

The winner will be declared during the 2020 World Athletics Awards to be held virtually on December 5.

Obiri, the World 5,000m champion, remained undefeated in three races over 3000m and 5000m during this season's Diamond League and ran a world-leading of 8:22.54 over 3000m at Doha on September 25.

Kipyegon also had a great year undefeated in five races over all distances and also ran world-leading performances over 800m (1:57.68) and 1000m (2:29.15) in Doha.

Peres Jepchirchir twice broke the world half marathon record for a women-only race (1:05:34 and 1:05:16) at the Prague Half Marathon and at the World Half Marathon Championship. No Kenyan woman has ever emerged the World Athlete of the Year winner despite their dominance in long distance races.

On Monday, Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot was shortlisted for the men's award.

World Athletics disclosed on Tuesday that the list of 10 nominees for the Female World Athlete of the Year were selected by an international panel of athletics experts comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.

“The nominations reflect the remarkable range of exceptional performances that the sport has witnessed this year, despite the challenges that the global Covid-19 pandemic presented,” said a statement on World Athletics website.

The trio of Kenyans will definitely face stiff competition from Muir, Gidey, Ababel Yeshaneh and Ethiopian-born Dutch European 10,000m record holder, Sifan Hassan. Also to watch out is Jamaican sprinting queen Elaine Thompson-Herah.

Britain’s Laura Muir is among the nominees for the female world athlete of the year honor, while Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei is on a shortlist for the male prize at the World Athletics Awards.

This year the global governing body’s awards event will be held virtually on Saturday December 5.

Muir clocked 1500m times of 3:57.40, 3:57.86 and 3:58.24 to lead the world rankings and set a British 1000m record of 2:30.82 in 2020, while Cheptegei broke three world records throughout the year – running 12:51 for a road 5km, 12:35.36 for 5000m on the track and 26:11.00 for 10,000m on the track.

Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey, who set a world record of 14:06.62 over 5000m, and Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan, who recorded a world record distance of 18,930m in the one-hour run and broke the European 10,000m record with 29:36.67, are also among the female nominees.

The men’s shortlist also features Sweden’s world pole vault record-breaker Mondo Duplantis and Norway’s Karsten Warholm, who ran a world-leading 46.87 in the 400m hurdles and was unbeaten in that event.

Female world athlete of the year nominees: Femke Bol, Netherlands; Letesenbet Gidey, Ethiopia; Sifan Hassan, Netherlands; Peres Jepchirchir, Kenya; Faith Kipyegon, Kenya; Laura Muir, Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Hellen Obiri, Kenya; Yulimar Rojas, Venezuela; Elaine Thompson-Herah, Jamaica; Ababel Yeshaneh, Ethiopia

Male world athlete of the year nominees: Donavan Brazier, USA; Joshua Cheptegei, Uganda; Timothy Cheruiyot, Kenya; Ryan Crouser, USA; Mondo Duplantis, Sweden; Jacob Kiplimo, Uganda; Noah Lyles, USA; Daniel Stahl, Sweden; Johannes Vetter, Germany; Karsten Warholm, Norway

A three-way voting process will determine the finalists. The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the World Athletics’ social media platforms.

As well as male and female athlete of the year honors, the World Athletics Awards will include the president’s award, coaching achievement award and athletics photograph of the year, as well as a Covid inspiration award, athletes community award and member federations award.

Last year Eliud Kipchoge and Dalilah Muhammad were named world athletes of the year, while the 2018 winners were Kipchoge and Caterine Ibarguen.

European 10,000m record-breaker has decided to end her season early

Sifan Hassan will not be racing at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, instead deciding to end her season, which has included world and European record-breaking performances, earlier than originally planned.

The 27-year-old smashed Dire Tune’s world one-hour record by covering 18,930m on the track at the Van Damme Memorial meeting in Brussels last month before she ran 29:36.67 in the rain to break Paula Radcliffe’s European 10,000m record in Hengelo on Saturday.

The world 1500m and 10,000m champion had next been set to line up as part of the Netherlands team at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Poland on Saturday (October 17), where she would have been among the favorites, but she has decided with her coach Tim Rowberry to end her season.

After a short break, she will begin preparing for Olympic year.

“It has been a tough year, the uncertainty of competitions going ahead was always part of my training regime,” said Hassan. “To focus and push yourself every day in training is difficult, especially when you don’t know if it will be possible to deliver performances in a competition environment.

“The season was short, but the lead up to it was long. Therefore I decided to give myself some rest and focus for next year. I want to make sure I will be in top shape physically and mentally next year at the Olympic Games.

“I am very proud of my performances this season, the world hour record and the European record this weekend. Those results give me good faith that I am able to reach my highest potential, also in uncertain times. Therefore I look forward to next year with a lot of confidence.”

Briton Mo Farah will return to the track for the first time since 2017 in a bid to break the men's one-hour world record at the meeting in Brussels on 4 September.

The 37-year-old, winner of multiple world and Olympic titles, will aim to better Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie's 13-year-old record of 21.285km.

European 10,000m silver medallist Bashir Abdi will line up against Farah.

Ethiopia's Ababel Yeshaneh and Birhane Dibaba will go for the women's record.

That mark of 18.517km was recorded by their compatriot Dire Tune in 2008.

The one-hour run is where athletes try to cover as much distance as possible within one hour.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Britain's world heptathlon champion, will look to finish higher than Olympic champion Nafi Thiam once again when they compete in a 'triathlon' contest featuring 100m hurdles, shot put and high jump.