France won their first ever medal in the mixed relay at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee on Saturday (10), taking silver behind Australia who won by three seconds - 22:23 to 22:26.
Antoine Senard, who was part of their gold medal-winning team at the 2023 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Brussels, ran a standout third leg at 5:14 for the 2km distance, handing over the wristband to European indoor 1500m champion Agathe Guillemot with a marginal lead over the Australians.
Guillemot had the awesome task of holding off Olympic 1500m silver medallist Jessica Hull on the anchor leg and while Hull duly overhauled the Frenchwoman with a 5:50 split - the fastest split time by a woman - Guillemot safely anchored France to a silver medal with a 5:55 split with Ethiopia taking the bronze in 22:34.
"We came here for a medal. I had a tough challenge with Jessica Hull in the last leg. I ran to secure the medal and finished close to gold," said Guillemot after anchoring the French team which also included European 3000m steeplechase champion Alexis Miellet and Sarah Madeleine.
This was the best ever showing by a European nation in the mixed relay since it was added to the programme at the World Cross Country Championships in Kampala in 2017, bettering the bronze medals won by Türkiye in 2017 and Great Britain in 2024.
It was also the first time France has won a medal in any race at the World Cross Country Championships since 2001.
Ndikumwenayo takes the European plaudits in eighth
Two years after finishing ninth in Belgrade, European cross country champion Thierry Ndikumwenayo improved to eighth to take the mantle of leading European in the senior men’s race for the second successive edition of the World Cross Country Championships.
With Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo winning gold for the third time over 10km in 28:18, Ndikumwenayo crossed the finish-line in eighth in 29:16, beating some strong European opposition for continental bragging rights.
European 10km champion Yann Schrub from France was 11th in 29:22 with reigning world 10,000m champion Jimmy Gressier, who won silver behind Ndikumwenayo at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships last month, finishing 15th in 29:36, just outsprinting Ireland's Brian Fay in 16th.
In the senior women’s race, Spain’s European U23 cross country champion Maria Forero ran a well-judged race in warm conditions to finish 14th in 33:53, taking the European plaudits in a race dominated by Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich who won in 31:28.
Forero moved gradually through the field, moving up from 29th at the 5km mark and picked up five runners in the last kilometre including European cross country silver medallist Megan Keith who faded to 25th in 34:25.
European cross country champion Willem Renders achieved the best finish by a European in the men’s U20 8km at the World Cross Country Championships since 1994.
In a race won by Frankline Kibet who led a Kenyan clean sweep in 23:18, the Belgian finished 11th in 24:13. He finished two places ahead of European U20 cross country bronze medallist Alois Abraham who finished 13th in 24:23.
After a disappointing showing at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships where he faded to 32nd, Sweden’s Sebastian Lörstad had a much better performance, finishing 17th in 24:56.
His teammate Fanny Szalkai was the top European finisher in the U20 women's 6km, finishing 21st in 20:56.
Photo courtesy of Sergio Mateo / World Athletics