Friday 4 September marks 100 days to go until the Belgrade 2026 SPAR European Cross Country Championships on Sunday 13 December.
The 33rd edition of the annual event will return to Serbia for the second time in its history, having also been staged in Belgrade in 2013 when the winners included future three-time Olympic champion Sifan Hassan.
The Dutch icon won the women’s U23 race.
Belgrade also hosted the 2024 World Cross Country Championships at the city's
Ušće Friendship Park, which will also provide the course for December's races.
The Serbian capital also staged the European Athletics Indoor Championships in 1969 and 2017 as well as the European Athletics Championships back in 1962.
The SPAR European Cross Country Championships typically attract the cream of continental distance running. Italy’s European 5000m and 10,000m champion Nadia Battocletti has won the senior women’s race at the last two editions, in Antalya 2024 and Lagoa 2025.
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway has won three senior men’s titles at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships, triumphing in Dublin 2021, Turin 2022 and Antalya 2024.