Nadia Battocletti will be looking to crown another glittering season by defending her title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal on 14 December.
Battocletti became the first woman in championship history to achieve a hat-trick of individual U20, U23 and senior titles in Antalya last year when she also helmed Italy to their first ever title in the senior women’s team race.
The SPAR European Cross Country Championships will be streamed live on the European Athletics website from 9.00am local time (10.00am CET.)
Five to watch
- Nadia Battocletti (ITA)
- Yasemin Can (TUR)
- Jana Van Lent (BEL)
- Megan Keith (GBR)
- Mariana Machado (POR)
Key storylines
- Nadia Battocletti to defend her senior individual and team titles
- Mariana Machado targeting her first senior medal after finishing fifth in 2024
- Five of the top six finishers from last year return, including Battocletti and bronze medallist Yasemin Can
Battocletti starts as the resounding favourite to retain her title. The 25-year-old has amassed another superlative season, culminating with medals in both the 5000m and 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo where she was only beaten by the formidable Kenyan duo of Beatrice Chebet and Faith Kipyegon.
If Battocletti was to falter, the main beneficiary could be Türkiye’s Yasemin Can - although the 29-year-old has been wildly inconsistent since her halcyon days of the late-2010s when she won four successive titles between 2016 and 2019.
A bronze medal last year on home soil in Antalya pointed towards the beginnings of a mid-career resurgence, but Can could only muster a 39th-place finish in the 10km at the European Running Championships in Brussels-Leuven in April, finishing almost two minutes behind eventual winner Battocletti.
But in her last race prior to the championships, Can finished fourth in a high quality 10km road race in Brasov, Romania in October in a national record of 30:36 - the second fastest time by a European in 2025.
If Can can reproduce this form in Lagoa, she could pose a credible threat to Battocletti.
A 10,000m repeat from Roma 2024
The line-up includes all three medallists from the 10,000m at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome where Battocletti completed the distance double with victory over Diane Van Es from the Netherlands and Great Britain’s Megan Keith.
Van Es doesn’t have too much in the way of demonstrable cross country form but Keith has amassed a formidable record at these championships, winning U20 gold in 2021 before graduating to the U23 title in 2023. Her winning margin of 83 seconds in 2023 was by far the biggest in any race in the history of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
Keith is part of a highly competitive and experienced British team which includes last year’s European U23 champion Phoebe Anderson, British Trials winner Cari Hughes and Abbie Donnelly, the bronze medallist in the senior race in 2023.
Great Britain is the most successful country in the senior women’s team race. They will be targeting a record-extending 10th title in Lagoa, and their fourth since 2017.
Can Belgium challenge for historic team gold?
One of the subplots at recent editions of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships has been the quiet rise of Belgian women’s distance running.
Belgium won a surprise team bronze medal on home soil in Brussels 2023 - their first medal as a collective since Charleroi in 1996 - before repeating this feat the following year in Antalya where their team was steered by fourth-placer Jana Van Lent.
Van Lent will be at the forefront of a Belgian team that has genuine ambitions of both individual and team medals. After finishing fourth last year, Van Lent won individual and team gold at the European 10,000m Cup in Pacé before becoming the first Belgian to break the 15 minute-barrier in the 5000m, eventually lowering the national record down to 14:37.47.
However, Van Lent was beaten at the recent Belgian Cross Country Championships by Lisa Rooms who has also been part of the last two bronze medal-winning teams. Individually, her best finish so far was a sixth-place finish in Brussels two years ago.
And the Belgian team’s chances will be strengthened considerably if European half marathon champion Chloe Herbiet has recovered sufficiently from her exertions in the Valencia Marathon on Sunday. She finished third, shattering Marleen Renders’ long-standing national record with 2:20:38.
At the time of writing, Herbiet still intends to compete in Lagoa.
Machado leads domestic hopes in Lagoa
One of Portugal’s principal medal hopes will be Mariana Machado who finished fifth last year before improving to fourth in the 10km at the European Running Championships in Brussels-Leuven.
If Machado improves by one place, she would match the bronze medal which she won in the U20 race the last time Portugal held the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lisbon in 2019.
Surprisingly, Germany won’t be sending a team to Lagoa but they will have viable individual medal chances through Eva Dieterich, the silver medallist in the 10km at the European Running Championships, and German cross country champion Elena Burkard. The latter has placed inside the top-10 on three occasions in the senior women’s race.
By contrast, France will be sending a team and Les Bleus could challenge for their first team medal since 2015. Their team combines speed and endurance in the shape of European indoor 1500m champion Agathe Guillemot and the in-form Alessia Zarbo who has set French 10km (31:00) and half marathon (68:20) respectively this autumn.
Also watch out for last year’s sixth-placer Sarah Lahti from Sweden, a recent winner of the Warandeloop in Tilburg by almost one minute.
What they said
Nadia Battocletti: "Cross country will always have a special place in my heart. My first big international victory came in the U20 race in 2018 and becoming the first woman to complete the set of titles in Antalya last year was an achievement I am very proud of."
Did you know?
The last time Portugal won a gold medal at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships was back in Albufeira 2010 when Jessica Augusto won the senior title on home soil, leading the hosts to their third successive team title.
