Final entries for the Brussels 2023 SPAR European Cross Country Championships on 10 December have been published and can be viewed in event-by-event order here.
Four of the six individual champions from the 2022 European Cross Country Championships in Turin will be in action in Laeken Park.
Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal will seek a hat-trick of titles – and a tenth individual medal in total – in the senior women’s race in which one of her main challengers is likely to be Italy’s Nadia Battocletti who successfully defended her U23 title last year.
Last year’s U20 champions Maria Forero from Spain and Great Britain’s Will Barnicoat will also be in action but they will both step up into the U23 ranks in Brussels.
With two-time champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway missing from the championships for the first time in his career, a new champion will emerge in the senior men’s race.
A silver and bronze medallist in years gone by, home favourite Isaac Kimeli is one of Belgium’s leading title hopes while Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa – a two-time U20 champion – will be looking to add the senior cross country title to his 10,000m gold from the 2022 European Athletics Championships.
Italy will also defend their mixed relay title and their quartet includes Pietro Arese and Gaia Sabbatini who ran the first and fourth legs respectively of their gold medal-winning team in La Mandria Park last year.
After missing last year’s race due to illness, European U20 1500m and 5000m champion Niels Laros from the Netherlands makes his debut at these championships. One of his main rivals will be Denmark’s Axel Vang Christensen who was a non-finisher in last year’s race but won this title by an impressive 25 seconds when he was only 17 in 2021.
The championships will be streamed in their entirety on the All-Athletics platform from 12:05 local time (CET) and will be accompanied by expert English-language commentary.
There will also be extensive race day coverage of the championships on the European Athletics website and across European Athletics’ social media channels.
