France’s Bastien Augusto went to fifth on this year’s European men’s 10km lists with a blistering run of 27:30 at the Urban Trail de Lille on Saturday (15).
The 26-year-old clipped 10 seconds from his previous best at the same event two years ago. He placed fourth in Saturday’s race won by John Aimun (27:13), followed by Kenyan colleague Vincent Kimaiyo (27:20) and Ethiopia’s Lemi Mengisti (27:23).
Pacemaker to contender
Augusto was scheduled in a pacemaker role to 5km, but he decided to continue and was rewarded with a lifetime best. He pipped French teammate Fabien Palcau by a single second, who slots in sixth on the European list for the year.
Italy’s 2023 European U23 10,000m silver medallist Francesco Guerra was sixth in Lille in 27:38 to go second on the Italian all-time list behind on Yemaneberhan Crippa. Ireland’s European 10,000m Cup winner Efrem Gidey was eighth in 28:10. Augusto is set to make his marathon debut in Valencia on 7 December.
Sub-31 for Koster and Lahti
In the women's race which was won in commanding fashion by Kenya's Brenda Jepchirchir in 30:04, European runners occupied the remaining places on the podium.
The Netherlands' Maureen Koster finished second in a lifetime best of 30:57, one second and one place ahead of Sweden's Sarah Lahti who was rewarded with a national record of 30:58.
On the comeback trail, multiple European age-group and senior medallist Alina Reh from Germany finished eighth in 32:46.
In the women's 5km, there was a huge breakthrough victory for France's Célia Tabet, who won in 15:08, slashing a massive 54 seconds off her personal best.