Italy regained the mixed relay title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, Türkyie on Sunday (8) after a thrilling sprint finish won by Pietro Arese.
The 2024 European Athletics Championships 1500m bronze medallist had the edge on France’s Simon Bedard and Great Britain’s Tyler Bilyard in the closing straight, after the trio had run abreast on the final 1500m circuit to decide the medals.
Early lead for French quartet
France had made the early running with Antoine Senard - the only returning member of their gold medal-winning team last year – covering the opening 1710m long lap in 4:29.
Robin van Riel (NED), Joshua Lay (GBR), Sebastiano ParolinI (ITA) and Jesus Gomez (ESP) also made sure their teams were right in the mix at the front, with three seconds covering the top five after one lap of racing.
However, a pivotal second leg saw France, Great Britain and Italy go clear with Marta Zenoni’s crucial 4:36 leg over 1510m breaking up the lead pack.
Maddie Deadman’s 4:38 clocking and Emilie Girard’s 4:43 kept Great Britain and France within range, but Dagmar Smid struggled for the Netherlands and the heavily fancied Spanish quartet slipped out of medal contention after national 1500m record-holder Marta Perez took a heavy fall on the second leg.
Closest finish ever
Olympic 1500m finalist Agathe Guillemot advanced the French cause, running 4:33 for her leg, the fastest female 1510m circuit of the whole race, to give the defending champions a narrow lead into the final 1594m leg.
Italy’s Sintayehu Vissa and Great Britain’s Elise Thorner also ran strong legs of 4:38 each to give the final male runners a level chance of a medal.
However, Arese’s greater pedigree and turn of speed told as he held off Bedard. He had also ran the opening leg when Italy last won this title on home turf in Turin 2022.
He maintained a strong tempo with Bedard and Bilyard, the latter making up ground quickly to get up with his Italian and French rivals at the start of the last lap, and they kept in close contact throughout, but as they entered the finishing straight, Arese went up a gear and left France and Great Britain to fight out silver and bronze, a battle that Bedard won narrowly.
All three teams were timed at 18:02, making it the closest mixed relay in the seven times this event has been part of SPAR European Cross Country Championships, after being inuagurated in 2017.
“It was amazing at the finishing straight,” reflected Arese. “I was a little bit tired, but I could handle the British and the French guy who ran amazing relays. It was special winning again, because I am the only member from the winning team in 2022 - then last year we finished fourth, so I badly wanted to win again.”
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics