Turkish international Ali Tunç improved on bronze from last year, winning the men’s U20 gold at the Albufeira 2025 European Champions Clubs Cup Cross Country in Portugal on Sunday (2).
The Balkan U20 champion has been in good form all winter, having also placed seventh on home turf at the Antalya 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships and setting a Turkish U20 3000m indoor record less than a week ago
He set his stall out early - a familiar tactic from Tunç as he was an early leader at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships on home soil in Antalya in December before finishing seventh - taking a prominent position towards the front right from the gun.
Young Turks win gold
He led at the end of lap one and on the second lap, created a break from the pack which no-one could go with. Going into the third and final lap, he led Mica Roma runner Lucian Ștefan by six seconds.
Stefan, 10th in this race in 2024, has some international pedigree having represented Romania in the last two SPAR European Cross Country Championships, placing 36th in Antalya.
But he did not quite have it within him to challenge for gold and settled into a last lap battle to secure a podium position with Slavia Stu Bratislava's ’s Filip Jančík and Tunc’s Fenerbahce teammate Kiyasettin Kara.
As Tunc pulled further clear and clinched gold in 17:11 over the 5.62km course, the three were locked in an intense struggle for silver and bronze.
In the sprint, Stefan just had the edge, clocking 17:34 with Jančík holding on for bronze in 17:35. Kara was a further second back in fourth, but combined with Tunc’s first place and Azat Özkan placing eighth, he had the consolation of team gold as Fenerbahce regained the men's U20 team crown they last won in 2023.
Spain’s Vicky Foods took suprise silver aided by Kuma Barrios (seventh), Soufien Isam (11th) and Alex Sierpes (12th) while Italy’s Vallebrembana took bronze courtesy of Luigi Turrin (sixth), Luciano Carallo (14th) and Carlo Tagliabue (19th).
Abera dominates
In the women’s U20 race, Hawi Abera of Sporting Clube de Portugal was a class apart.
A silver medallist in the 1500m from last year’s African Games, she was also a member of the winning Ethiopian mixed relay quartet at the 2023 World Cross Country Championships and she showed all that pedigree and more in Albufeira.
Last year’s silver medallist Edibe Yağiz of Fenerbahce had bravely hung on to Abera, who can boast of a 1500m best of 4:05.26, on the first lap with Playas de Castellón’s Nadia Soto keeping a watching brief in third.
But by the end of the second lap, Abera had carved out an insurmountable 36-second lead and Yağiz was left to maintain her form to hold onto second place.
By the finish Abera had opened a massive advantage and broke the tape in 18:45. Yağiz still had enough in the tank to take a distant silver medal in 19:59, after also finishign second in 2024, with the 17-year-old Soto, a Banska Bystrica 2024 Eiuropean Athletics U18 2000m steeplechase bronze medallist, nine seconds adrift in third.
Fenerbahce also retained their women's U20 team title - and made it four triumphs in the last six editions - with Yağiz ably supported by Havva Efe (seventh) and Viyan Adar (tenth).
Team silver medals went to France’s Clermont Auvergne, who upgraded their place on the podium after finishing third in 2024, thanks to Paloma Ferrari (fourth), May-Lise Olivier (ninth) and Lilou Ventura (16th), with Soto, Mara Rolli (seventh) and Monica Guijarro (19th) combining to give Playas de Castellón the bronze medals.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics