How good was the 2026 World Cup in Tallahassee, Florida? The opinion is divided.
When the dust settled at Appalachian Regional Park on Saturday (Jan. 10), there were several talking points. However, one thing is certain. Without a doubt, running needs the Winter Olympics more than the Winter Olympics.
The event in Tallahassee, Florida did little to advance the sport in my opinion. In 2019, Aarhus in Denmark gave hope with a tough and imaginative course in front of thousands of fans. But the World Cross has subsequently struggled to capitalize on that momentum.
Seb Coe joked at a press conference on Friday that the World Cross is bigger than the Super Bowl. Wishful thinking, perhaps. Right now, it’s not even the “super bowl of athletics,” a position it once held in the 1970s and 1980s, although to be fair to Coe, his tongue was firmly in his cheek.
First, the new date of early January doesn’t seem to have worked. Many European countries, such as Germany, Italy, Norway, and even the event’s recent hosts, such as Denmark and Serbia, continued their “quiet boycott” of their Tallahassee. Famous individuals like Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Andreas Almgren and even Americans like Cole Hawker and Grant Fischer voted with their spikes and signed up for the upcoming indoor competition instead.
The next day we saw two European and a number of national records in Valencia 10 km Almgren and Eilish McColgan stood out. It meant that Valencia almost beat World Cross for quality and entertainment value.
In Tallahassee, it was a familiar story of East African dominance Zecob Kpage Kipp and: Agnes Ngetich won the senior race, although there was Australia’s success in the medley relay. By the way, some applause for the Aussies, Britain, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Spain, all World Cross stalwarts.
As for the course, it strikes me that the mostly American audience in Tallahassee enjoyed it, but European viewers from afar were at best impatient, or in some cases quite critical.
To me it looked like a scenic and functional place, but too flat to be a real challenge. The various obstacles thrown in weren’t particularly challenging or innovative either.
I’m pretty sure the man-made hill is inside Belgrade two years ago was more or less the same as the rollercoaster in Tallahassee. Short stretches of sand and mud have been seen before and barely broke the athletes’ stride. Alligator Alley was more interesting, and certainly appropriate given the Florida venue, but, again, they hardly bothered the athlete’s stride.
The water feature had potential, but reports that it might be “waist deep” didn’t turn out to be true. In the end, it was barely ankle deep and only managed to wet the competitors’ shoes. Even Craig Virgin, the 1980 and 1981 World Champion, described it as a “Disney” course, though not in a particularly negative way.
Traditionalists made their irritation clear in dozens of comments below AWs posts on our social networks. “Where were the mud and the hills?” they cried. Of course, it’s hard to beat somewhere like Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park or London’s Parliament Hill for a ‘true cross-country experience’.
In fairness to the American hosts, their overwhelming reaction was one of excitement and satisfaction that everything went well. The team at Letsrun.com described it as a brilliantly ‘fun’ championship that delivered in many areas. Letsrun is also known for not mincing his words and not being afraid to criticize when necessary.
Maybe it’s the TV and online coverage that’s the problem. Aerial drone shots failed to capture the crowds (more than 10,000, apparently) and the excitement, or even in some cases, who was actually leading the race. Footage showed crowds gathered mostly for “alligator alley” and water jets, with other sections of the track sparsely populated with fans. But Americans who were there claim it was spectacularly busy with a great atmosphere.
Given the fact that the next World Cross is not scheduled to take place until 2029, World Athletics has some time to work on improving its format. Is it possible to be resurrected? This area of ​​the sport is certainly close to Coe’s heart, and I would imagine it will be one of his #1 goals in the twilight years of his presidency.
So what can be done? The course and the competitors are key.
Undoubtedly, finding a place as rough and tough as Aarhus 2019 should be a priority. Mud and hills are non-negotiable, otherwise the event resembles a glorified track. If it can be staged in a major city, so much the better.
Then there are the athletes. World Athletics should do something about the fact that so many European countries miss out on the event. Increasing prize money will also go some way to attracting the world’s best.
The status of the Winter Olympics wouldn’t hurt either.
