Everything you need to know about the European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa on 14 December.
A total of 644 athletes from 36 countries will participate in the 31st European Cross-Cross Championship.
This year’s event in Lagoa will be the fourth time Portugal has hosted the championships, following Oeiras (1997), Albufeira (2010) and Lisbon (2019).
Great Britain have historically performed well at Euro Cross and lead the all-time medal tally with 201 medals, 89 of which are gold.
Great Britain secured six gold medals at last year’s Games in Antalya, with Will Barnicoat (U23), Phoebe Anderson (U23) and Innes Fitzgerald (U20) walking away with individual honours.
International stars to watch out for this year include Jimmy Grecier, Nadia Battocleti, Isaac Nader and Diane van Ess.
Senior men
Without Jakob Ingebrigtsen in this year’s Euro Cross. The Norwegian is instead focusing on the 2026 season after an injury-riddled summer, opening up opportunities for others in Portugal.
Two years ago, while Ingebrigtsen was away in Brussels, Jan Schroob topped the podium in muddy conditions in the Belgian capital. France’s prospects of securing gold look good once again as one of the favorites for this year’s edition is Jimmy Grecier.
Grecier arrives in Lagoa on the back of a record-breaking summer that included 10,000m gold and 5,000m bronze at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. He also won the Diamond League 3000m title and won the half marathon at the European Running Championships in Brussels.
In addition to his track and road background, the French athlete is a three-time under-23 champion and senior Eurocross bronze medallist, with the earliest of those titles coming back in 2017.
Gresier’s closest rival could be Dominique Lobalu. The Swiss topped the 10,000m podium at last summer’s European Athletics Championships in Rome, a race where Grecier finished fifth.
Lobalu also secured a 5000m bronze medal in that championship and is the Swiss half marathon record holder with a best result of 59:12. This will be Lobalu’s Euro Cross debut and it will be interesting to see if he can translate that speed to the mud and grass at Lagoa.
Spain’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo will aim to improve his senior bronze medal from last year’s Games to gold this time around. Ndikumvenayo led Spain to team gold in Antalya and is also a European 10,000m bronze medallist.
The Brits are likely to be led by teammates and training partners Scott Beattie and Rory Leonard. The pair finished 1-2 at the Liverpool Cross Challenge and are both trained by Andy Hobdell at the HOKA-backed Team Makou.
Beattie was unable to represent Great Britain in Antalya due to a passport issue, while Leonard was the highest placed Briton in ninth place.
Senior women
Nadia Battocletti will defend her individual crown after becoming the first woman to win the Euro Cross under-20, under-23 and senior titles in 12 months.
The Italian has been in superb form this summer with 10,000m silver and 5,000m bronze at the World Athletics Championships as well as the 10km title at the European Championships.
However, the strength of the senior women’s race in Lagoa is incredibly strong in depth, with five of the top six finishers from Antalya returning.
Yasemin Can, a four-time winner of the senior Euro Cross race, could be Battocletti’s biggest threat. The Turkish athlete, who is also the European 5,000m and 10,000m champion, was third in Antalya behind Battokletti and Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen.
Portugal’s Mariana Machado finished fifth last year and among those watching will be Dutchman Diane van Ess, the European 10,000m silver medallist.
Abby Donnelly was the last senior British athlete to reach the podium and she is hoping to do it again. Donnelly won bronze in Brussels two years ago and arrives in Lagoa on the back of a 2:24:11 marathon in Frankfurt in October, as well as fifth place in the Liverpool Cross Challenge.
Megan Keith didn’t run at Liverpool but has been in good cross-country form with three respective fourth places at Cardiff, Atapuerca and Madrid.
Men up to 23 years old
Will Barinocat and Nick Griggs one of the best ever finishes at last year’s Eurocross in Antalya.
After a battle down the home stretch, just one second separated the pair at the finish line, with Barnicoat beating Griggs.
Expect more fireworks from these two once again in the under-23 men’s race as Barnicoat aims for his third consecutive age-group title.
Interestingly, Griggs beat Barnicoat over 5,000m at this summer’s European U23 Championships, where the Irishman won gold and the Briton bronze.
Another athlete we are looking up to is Denmark’s Joel Ibler Lilles, the European Under-23 10,000m champion and his country’s 5,000m record holder.
Having been an under-20 individual bronze medalist in Dublin four years ago, Ibler Lillesø also has a cross-country background.
Women up to 23 years old
Spain’s Maria Forero is likely to arrive at Lagoa as the favorite after a great summer at the track. Forero topped the podium over 5,000m at the European Under-23 Championships, winning by more than eight seconds in Norway.
Forero, the Euro Cross under-20 individual champion, secured silver in the under-23 group in Antalya and will aim to make it gold this year.
Ireland’s Annika Thompson is also in the field and hopes to transfer her track success to cross country this summer. Thompson secured the 5000m bronze and shared the podium with Forero, and also won the 10,000m title.
The last two winners of this title have both come from the UK, Megan Keith and Phoebe Anderson, and the British challenge for this edition will be led by the likes of Megan Harris, Mia Waldman and Rebecca Flaherty.
Men up to 20 years old
In what was expected to be one of the most open races of the entire championship, a number of athletes could top the Lagoa podium.
Norway’s Haakon Moe Berg is the European under-23 1500m and 3000m champion, so we expect him to play. Sweden’s Karl Otfalk won 5000m silver and 3000m bronze at those championships and, given he was fifth at last year’s Eurocross, could also be a threat.
British athletes have always performed well in this age category at Eurocross and there is great strength in depth, so they could have a strong shot at winning the team title.
Michael Clarke leads the six-man squad by winning the Liverpool Cross Challenge, but is also followed by the likes of Will Rabjohns and Alex Lennon.
Women up to 20 years old
Innes Fitzgerald is on course for a hat-trick of titles in his final Eurocross under-20 category. The Brit has dominated both domestically and across the continent in previous years, winning comfortably in both Brussels and Antalya.
Her preparation for Lagoa couldn’t have been better either, with the Exeter-based athlete impressing at both the Cardiff and Liverpool Cross Challenges. She also secured the European 3000m and 5000m titles last summer, breaking Zola Budd’s 40-year-old British Under-20 5000m record at the London Diamond League.
Great Britain will also be a good bet for the team title and will boast the likes of Eliza Nicholson, Lizzie Welstead and Zara Redmond.
Mixed relay
If the Portuguese public entered the men’s 1500m final at the World Athletics Championships, expect a big reaction to Isaac Nader’s nomination for the nation in the medley relay.
In one of the championship’s most dramatic races, Nader chased the leaders from home to secure an incredible victory in Tokyo.
She is the standout name in the Portugal squad, but it also includes two-time Paris Olympian and European medalist Salome Afonso.
The British quartet consists of Holly Dixon, Callum Elson, Jack Higgins and Ava Lloyd.
Timetable (same time as GMT)
9:30 – women under 20 (4290 m)
10:00 – men under 20 (4290 m)
10:26 – Women under 23 (5790 m)
11:00 – men up to 23 years old (5790 m)
11:30 – Mixed relay race (4×1500 m)
12:00 – Senior women (7290 m)
12:41 – Senior men (7290 m)
The event will be displayed BBC Red Button/iPlayer 9.20am GMT, with highlights on BBC Two at 4.40pm.
