by RBR Admin
RunBlogRun opines: One of the many things I am appreciating about European Athletics is that they are getting it. They provide free access to streaming coverage on many of their events and also push video highlights of most of their events. Their growth in viewership with 14-25 year olds is amazing and a quick view of the social media world tells you that EA is on the right track.
Here is their high lights of the races, with some good footage from key races. European Athletics still on my bucket list. While imperfect, the EA is getting more and more teams out to events, and they are developing a new generation of European distance runners. For our sport to grow, and thrive, we must have a vibrant European Athletics scene. With 51 members, European Athletics is the iconic birth place of our sport.
Cross country is athletics at its most primal. In the US, over 560,000 14-18 year olds ran cross country through this weekend, 200,000 collegen, open and masters runners also ran cross country. We are putting numbers together for around the world and will share those, hopefully, in early 2018.
We pulled tweets, and complete videos of the races, courtesy of our friends at European Athletics!
SPAR European Cross Country Championships Race Videos, plus commentary, courtesy of European Athletics
Getty Images for European AthleticsAfter benign conditions in Chia twelve months ago, sub-zero temperatures and a biting wind greeted the athletes in Samorin at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships. A record number of nations and athletes took part in the 24th edition of the annual championships at the x-bionic sphere which saw a superb day of racing.
In the first race of the day, Great Britain’s Harriet Knowles-Jones improved on her silver and bronze medals from 2015 and 2016 with a dominant display in the U20 race, defeating Hungary’s Lili Anna Toth and Germany’s Miriam Dattke.
There was only likely to be one winner in the men’s U20 race with reigning champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway lining up. Ingebrigtsen left it late but relied on his sprint finish to defeat Turkey’s Ramazan Barbaros to retain his title.
After the race, Ingebrigtsen told us his training is going “really well this year” and he is “a better runner” than he was twelve months ago when he won the title in Chia.
“I’m much better now. My training is going very well this year and my form is great at this point.”
We caught up with Jakob Ingebrigtsen after he defended his U20 title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships. pic.twitter.com/hsR1RXnlLo
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) December 10, 2017
In the women’s U23 race, German teammates Alina Reh and Konstanze Klosterhalfen were inseparable until the last 70 metres when Reh powered away from her teammate who was looking to claim her third successive individual title at the European Cross Country Championships.
After a string of excellent performances on the roads and at cross country, Reh is now turning her focus to the Berlin 2018 European Championships in August where she will be competing on the track. In this video, Reh speaks on the tactics she used in the European Cross Country Champs.
“It was the plan that we push on and keep going. I think we did that really well!”
Alina Reh tells us about the team tactics in the U23 race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships. pic.twitter.com/r6wrs8LYu2
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) December 10, 2017
The men’s U23 race was expected to be a head-to-head between European U23 track champions Yemaneberhan Crippa from Italy and Carlos Mayo from Spain. They had to settle for third and fifth respectively as the French took a surprise one-two through Jimmy Gressier and Hugo Hay.
With their third scoring counter finishing in fourth, France easily won the team title and their teammates joined in with the celebrations! This tweet captures the thrill of victory shared with your mates!
Fantastic scenes as the @FFAthletisme U23 team are mobbed by their teammates! pic.twitter.com/sbwlBAXEZ9
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) December 10, 2017
Turkey’s Yasemin Can romped to the senior women’s title, becoming just the second athlete in championships history to retain her title. Sweden’s Meraf Bahta used her 1500m pace to outsprint Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal for silver.
In the men’s senior race, Turkey’s Kaan Kigen Ozbilen came through gradually over the second half of the race to defeat Spain’s European indoor 3000m champion Adel Mechaal and Great Britain’s Andrew Butchart.
Reigning champion Aras Kaya’s chances of retaining his individual title were scuppered by a mid-race fall but he did help Turkey to the team title.
In the inaugural mixed relay, Cameron Boyek put the British team into a commanding lead on the second leg before Sarah McDonald and Tom Marshall safely maintained that lead to claim Britain’s fifth gold medal of the day.
