At the SPAR European Cross Country Championships held for the second time in Velenje, Slovenia, Sunday December 11, the British team all won medals, except for the unfortunate Emily Wicks who failed to finish the Senior Women’s race after suffering chest pains which saw her hospitalised.
Those 12 medals mean that Britain now has a total of 92 from the 18 editions celebrated which puts them well clear of France and Portugal, both tied on 59 with French on a superior tally of gold medals, 20 to Portugal’s 19.
If there is one area that needs work, though, it is in the senior men’s department where the absence of Mo Farah was keenly felt. The team still won silver, but their first counter, Andy Vernon, only just crept into the top ten.
Belgian men had won two junior individual gold medals before, one of them in Velenje 1999.
But this fine old cross country nation of yesteryear could hardly have expected the margin of victory enjoyed by Atelaw Bekele who romped away with the title in a manner reminiscent of the great Gaston Roelants.
It was a shock for Bekele who only expected to figure in the top 15, but it was the shock for the rest of Europe who could only sit back and hope he blew up.
One of France’s latest gold medals came courtesy of the hugely talented Florian Carvalho who has progressed inexorably through the ranks.
Gold and silver as a junior, then fourth two years ago and a silver in the Under-23 category last year, Carvalho eclipsed that with a superlative display to take gold to add to his equally impressive gold on the track at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Ostrava.
The ease with which he surged away up the hill on the final lap to open up a significant gap was evidence of a quality no one else could match.
If anyone embodies the value of this type of competition to the growing athlete, it is the young Frenchman who is surely destined for greater things.
There was a heart-warming win for Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton who had missed out on a medal by a whisker in Portugal last year.
Not since Catherina McKiernan lifted the title in the very first championships in Alnwick 1994 has the Emerald Isle struck individual gold, but it was all the sweeter for that.
Norway is not often seen on the medals’ board, either, but they notched up a team gold in the Under-23 Men’s event, led by Sondre Norstad Moen, who also claimed individual bronze.
Moen won Under-23 track 10,000m honours in Ostrava in the summer and also took European Junior Cross Country silver three years ago.
Norway’s only individual gold in the history of the championships came two years ago with Karoline Grøvdal’s triumph in the junior race.
But Moen and his sidekick, Sindre Buraas, who clinched U-23 5,000m gold in the summer, could be around for a few years yet to remind us that Norway is not only about cross country skiing.
For such a strong country historically, Spain suffered something of a slump in Velenje. While there were great hopes for Ayad Lamdassem to go one better than last year’s silver, there was nothing anyone could do to match the surprise that came out of Belgium. Bekele was simply in a class of his own.
The Spanish senior men’s squad also repeated their bronze medal from Albufeira, but two medals seemed small beer indeed for one of the continent’s historically strong nations.
If there was one shock over the whole weekend it was that of nine-time winner, Serhiy Lebid.
In the Saturday press conference he had been suitably reticent about his chances, citing heavy snowfall interrupting his training. It was assumed this was becoming modesty from a giant of European cross country.
As it turned out, his assessment was spot-on. Struggling to hold a place in the top-20 in the early stages, he eventually dropped out and the forecast face-off between himself and last year’s silver medallist, Lamdassem, failed to materialise.
Lebid’s demise was to the benefit of the event, however. All sport thrives on surprises and the senior men’s race provided it in abundance.
There were some intriguing names in the results. One of the women with most appearances in the history of the event is Olivera Jevtic whose tally reached 12 in Velenje.
The Serb has the distinction of finishing third no fewer than five times, one of those occasions coming in Velenje 1999. This time round, now 34, she had her lowest placing ever of 21.
Just above Jevtic in 16th was Sabrina Mockenhaupt, 31, who lifted silver in 2005. Like Jevtic, the German converted to the marathon for which she is now best known.