Portugal’s Jose Carlos Pinto took the victory in the 5km at the Cursa dels Nassos in Barcelona on Wednesday (31).
In a race billed as a European 5km record attempt by Spain’s European cross country champion Thierry Ndikumwenayo, Pinto surged past the Spaniard just before the three kilometre-mark and never looked back. He won in a national record of 13:10 to move to fifth on the European all-time list.
Behind Pinto, Magnus Tuv Myhre came past Ndikumwenayo to finish second in a Norwegian record of 13:13 - one of the few Norwegian middle and long distance records not to be held by his training partner Jakob Ingebrigtsen - with Ndikumwenayo fading to third in 13:22.
This victory provides some consolation for Pinto who was a DNF on home soil at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa where he sustained a minor injury after falling at the start.
In the women’s race which was dominated by Spanish-based Ethiopian Likina Amebaw who won in a gun-to-tape 14:23 to move to equal fifth on the world all-time list, European indoor 1500m champion Agathe Guillemot from France finished second in 15:04.
Great Britain’s world indoor 800m silver medallist Jemma Reekie took third in 15:21.
Garcia wins back-to-back titles in Madrid
European 5000m bronze medallist Marta Garcia won the San Silvestre Vallecana over 10km in Madrid for the second year in succession in 31:12.
Garcia pulled away from European 10,000m silver medallist Diane Van Es from the Netherlands on the steep hills in the final kilometre up to the finish-line in the Estadio de Vallecas for back-to-back victories, winning by seven seconds ahead of the Dutchwoman who has just announced her engagement to Tony Van Diepen on her Instagram account.
Carla Gallardo, who holds the Spanish record with 31:11, finished third in 31:26 while European marathon champion Fatima Ouhaddou was fifth in 32:01.
Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor won the men’s 10km in 27:42, pulling clear in the second half from Jesus Ramos (27:57) and Aaron Las Heras (28:01).
Elsewhere around Europe…
Sweden’s Emil Danielsson took some notable scalps in the 5km at the Trier Silvesterlauf on Wednesday.
Danielsson took the victory in 13:38 ahead of Uganda's Herbert Kibet (13:39) and Belgium's Pieter Sisk (13:39) with home favourite and world marathon silver medallist Amanal Petros finishing ninth in 13:53.
In the women’s race which was won by Rwanda’s Florence Niyonkuru in 15:26, Lisa Rooms - who was part of Belgium’s gold medal-winning team at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships earlier this month - finished third in 15:46.
On the comeback from maternity leave, Slovenia’s Marusa Mismas-Zrimsek won the 5.1km at the Silvesterlauf Peuerbach in Austria on Wednesday in 15:47 ahead of Kenya's Celestine Biwot (15:48) and Germany's Elena Burkard (15:49).
Germany's Florian Bremm defeated home favourite Raphael Pallitsch for the men's 6.8km title, 19:10 to 19:20.