Dutch junior sprinter and Olympic 1500m finalist Stefan Nilesen will face last year’s one-two in the Welsh capital, Kenneth Kiprop and Vincent Mutai.
Nils Laros, the Dutch teenager who was sixth in this year’s Olympic 1500m final, will enjoy an early winter endurance test at the Cardiff Cross Challenge on Saturday (November 9).
It promises to be a real test, with the 19-year-old set to face the top two men at last year’s Cardiff Cross Challenge, Uganda’s Kenneth Kiprop and Kenya’s Vincent Muta, as well as the Dutchman, a training partner and Olympian. 1500 m finalist Stefan Nilesen.
In Paris in August, Laros set a European under-20 1500m record of 3:29.54 as he finished behind Cole Hawker, Josh Kerr, Jared Nuguse, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Hobbs Kessler. Meanwhile, Nilesen was ninth in Paris in 3:30.75 and is the reigning European Under-23 champion.
It promises to be a great race with the Llandaff Fields course set to be firm and fast following the recent dry weather and unseasonably warm temperatures. The event’s status as a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold Label continues to attract quality line-ups. The event is also the first in a series of British Athletics Cross Challenges this winter.
Cardiff Cross Challenge (Paul Stillman)
Age group competitions and the inclusion of the John H Collins Gwent Cross Country League means there will be a strong turnout of club runners. Unsurprisingly, the Brits are also using the event as a warm-up for the Euro trials in Liverpool two weeks later.
LaRose clearly enjoys tackling cross country as part of her preparations for the summer season. Last winter, for example, he narrowly beat Axel Wang Christensen in the under-20 European cross-country championships in Brussels.
Kiprop, still only 19, set a blistering pace up front in Cardiff last year. Since then, he won bronze in the 5,000m at the World Under-20 Championships in Lima this year.
Kenneth Kiprop with Vincent Mutai (left) and Abele Bekele Alemu (right)
Mutai will be looking for revenge this year and is familiar with the Welsh capital as he is a former winner of the Cardiff Half Marathon.
Other contenders include Celestine Ndikumana and Emile Hafashima of Burundi, former Dutch 1500m champion Robin van Riel, Daniel Kibet of Uganda and Younes Kniyan of Morocco.
Leading the British challenge is Zac Mahamed, fresh from a 62:07 half marathon PB in Valencia and 12 months ago was the best Brit in Cardiff in fourth place plus. Charlie and George Wheelerwho impressed 12 months ago by placing in the top 10.
Zach Mohamed (Mark Shearman)
Welshman Osian Perrin is also set to compete with Dafydd Jones and James Heneghan, adding to the local interest.
Kenya’s Sheila Jebbett, fourth in the world under-20 race this year, leads the women’s field along with Charity Cherope, who won 5000m bronze for Uganda at the world under-20 championships in Lima this summer.
READ MORE. Cardiff Cross Challenge 2023 coverage
Also look out for Ethiopian star Tsige Teshome, Veerle Bakker, Emmi Van Den Berg and Femke Rosbergen of the Netherlands, as well as Denmark’s Sofia Togersen, the European Under-20 runner-up behind Innes Fitzgerald in Brussels last year.
Britons in action include Izzy Fry, Sarah Axford, Sarah Astin, Alex Bell, Kerry Hughes and the evergreen Gemma Steel, the latter of whom won the European title 10 years ago.
Fitzgerald, meanwhile, competes in the women’s under-20 race and will be a strong favorite to win again in 2023 after her emphatic 57-second victory.
Innes Fitzgerald (Getty)
Schedule:
11:02 – U11 girls – 1250m
11:12 – U11 boys – 1250m
11:25 – U13 girls – 2780m
11:45 – U13 boys – 2780m
12:00 – U15 girls – 3200m
12:15 – U15 boys – 3200m
12:30 – U17/20 women – 4450m
12:55 – Senior women and masters – 6400m
13:40 – U17/20 men – 5560m
14:05 – Senior men and masters – 9600m
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