Multiple European champion Nadia Battocletti leads the entries for the European 10,000m Cup in La Spezia, Italy on 23 May.
The Italian, current continental gold medallist on track, road and cross country leads a strong home team in the discipline in which she completed the distance double of 5000m and 10,000m at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Also, as the Olympic and world silver medallist over 10,000m, she will start as a big favourite in her debut appearance at this competition.
With experienced teammates including Federica Del Buono and Elisa Palmero, who were 4th and 6th respectively behind Battocletti over 10,000m at Roma 2024, Italy will be confident of more success on home soil.
Martin makes comeback to international scene
Last year’s runner-up Alessia Zarbo of France also returns to the fray for another medal tilt.
Meanwhile, Great Britain’s Rio 2016 Olympic finalist Jess Martin returns to international competition for the first time since 2017 after taking eight years away to have three daughters.
She clocked 32:04 on the roads at the Valencia 10K in January and may have an eye on her 10-year-old personal best of 31:35.92 from Rio.
The Spanish team will be spearheaded by former national 5000m champion Beatriz Álvarez.
Crippa and Aouani lead Italian men's team
In the men’s race, Italy also has two established championship stars in its line up. Fresh from winning last month’s Paris Marathon Yemaneberhan Crippa returns to track action.
The 2022 European 10,000m champion and 2024 European half marathon champion has triumphed at the European 10,000m Cup on two previous occasions in London 2019 and at Pacé 2023. He will start as favourite for a hat-trick of title.
But he faces a stern challenge for individual honours from international teammate Illias Aouani, who won European gold and world bronze over the marathon distance last year.
France’s Valentin Gondouin leads the French challenge. He won silver in Pacé last year and also won bronze in the half marathon at the European Running Championships in Brussels-Leuven. He will likely be best supported by national champion Simon Bedard.
Five-times Spanish champion on the roads, Jesús Ramos could also figure, as could Portugal’s eight-time national champion Samuel Barata and Belgium’s Simon Debognies, a former European U23 and European U20 silver medallist over 5000m.
There are 114 athletes entered for the annual event from 30 countries, consisting 60 women and 54 men.
The European 10,000m Cup will be streamed live on the European Athletics YouTube channel. The men’s A race is at 18:40 and the women’s A race is at 19:20 local time.