Jana Van Lent continued her rich vein of form, winning the senior women’s race at the European 10,000m Cup in Pacé, France on Saturday (24), also leading Belgium to the team title.
Running with a confidence that also brought her the Belgian 10k road record of 31:17 in Cannes in February and a national 5000m record of 15:02.18 in Brussels last weekend (18), she surged to the front just after the halfway point and pulled away to win in 31:32:28.
Silver went to France’s Alessia Zarbo in a big personal best 31:50:62, with bronze going to Van Lent’s Belgian teammate and recent half marathon winner at the Brussels-Leuven 2025 European Running Championships Chloe Herbiet in 31:54:06, also a personal best.
With Hanne Verbruggen placing 10th in a lifetime best of 32:35:78, it clinched the team title for Belgium with a combined time of 1:36:02.12.
Group of seven contend in early stages
Morocco’s Soukaina Atanane was deployed as pacemaker and although the chasing pack couldn’t quite go with her, a group of seven formed in her wake within the early stages.
It included Van Lent, Herbiet, Italian duo Federica Del Buono and Elisa Palmero, Latvia’s European U20 5000m/3000m champion Agate Caune, Germany’s European 10km silver medallist Eva Dierterich, Türkiye’s Bahar Yildrim and Spain’s Esther Naverette.
With 6km to go, Caune and Naverette found the going a bit tough and fell off the pace. With the pacemaker moving aside with 12 laps (4.8km) to go, Van Lent took over at the front.
Assertive Van Lent
Del Buono briefly nosed ahead with 4km remaining, but Van Lent assertively took charge again. Meanwhile, France’s Zarbo, European U18 3000m bronze medallist in Gyor 2018, gave the home fans plenty to shout about as she made contact with the leaders.
With 3km to go, Van Lent started to stretch the pace with Dieterich making a valiant effort to stay with her. With 2km of the race remaining, Van Lent tightened her grip on the race to break clear of Dieterich, Herbiet and Palmero.
Zarbo had briefly faltered but found her second wind to get back on the heels of Dieterich and Herbiet, as Palermo began to toil.
Up front, Van Lent looked stronger with every lap and had pulled out a 100 metre lead by the bell, with Herbiet and Zarbo left to fight out silver and bronze. It was a battle won by Zarbo’s sprinting prowess.
Team success for Belgium, Italy and France
As Belgium celebrated individual and team success, Italy and France took team silver and bronze respectively. Palmero (6th, 32:05.95), Del Buono (6th, 32:12:72) and Sara Nestola (9th, 32:21:65) gave Italy a combined time of 1:36:40.32.
France’s bronze came courtesy of Zarbo, Célia Tabet (12th, 32:50:15) and Philippine De La Bigne (13th, 32:59:72) with a total of 1:37:40.49.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics