Chloé Herbiet will be looking for her second major international gold medal in little more than a month at the European 10,000m Cup in Pacé, France on Saturday (24).
- Final entries | by season’s best
- Final entries | by country order
The Belgian thrilled the crowds on home territory in Leuven last month when she took the inaugural European Running Championships half marathon crown and will be hoping her form translates from the road to the track.
At the last edition of the European 10,000m Cup, which was also in Pacé two years ago, Herbiet finished fifth so is familiar with the town and the track.
After a stint training at altitude in the French Pyrenees, this time around is looking to make a major improvement on both her finishing position and her personal best over 25 laps of the track of 32:15:24.
If Herbiet does triumph in Pacé, it will also make a little bit of Cup history as, despite the country’s prestigious heritage in distance running, no Belgian – either man or woman - has ever been an individual winner.
The only time that the Belgian national anthem has been heard at the Cup was almost two decades ago when their women won the team contest.
Van Lent on record run
However, Herbiet may have her work cut out even being the first Belgian across the line as their team also includes Jana Van Lent, who has been in record-breaking form in recent months and will have her first 10,000m track race of the year on Saturday evening.
Van Lent set a Belgian 10km record of 31:17 in Cannes in February and added to her accolades with a 5000m record of 15:02.18 in Brussels last weekend, bouncing back from a slightly disappointing fifth place in the European Running Championships 10km.
Marleen Renders’ auspicious Belgian 10,000m mark of 31:03:60 has been on the record books since 2000 but, if everything goes to plan, both Herbiet and Van Lent could challenge it.
Van Lent is one of seven women on the entry list who have run under 32 minutes in their careers, a list which includes Germany’s Eva Dieterich, who ran a personal best of 31:20 to take the European Running Championships 10km silver medal and who went on to reduce her personal best on the track to 31:45.18 when finishing second at the German 10,000m championships earlier this month.
Her podium finish in Leuven was the first international medal for the 26-year-old, whose previous best result on the continental stage had been sixth over 10,000m at the Tallinn 2021 European Athletics U23 Championships.
Del Buono leads strong Azzurri squad
The fastest woman in the field is the experienced and versatile Italian international Federica Del Buono, who has only run two previous 10,000m races on the track but her last one was at the European Athletics Championships in front of her friends and family in Rome last summer when she finished just out of the medals in fourth place in 31:25.41.
After starting her career as a middle-distance runner, including a 1500m bronze medal at the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships and she even made the Paris 2024 Olympic Games semifinal at this distance, this year she has set her sights on extending her range.
Finishing a modest 28th in the European Running Championships 10km was a disappointment but Del Buono bounced back two weeks later to win the Padova half marathon in 1:11.26 on her debut at the distance.
Also in the Italian team – with the Azzurri strong contenders to regain the women’s team title they last won in 2011 – are Elisa Palmero and Anna Arnaudo, who have personal bests of 31:38.45 and 31:39.86 respectively.
Like Del Buono, Palmero set her personal best in Rome last summer when finishing sixth while reigning national 10,000m champion Arnaudo was the 2021 European Athletics U23 Championships silver medallist but has not had the best of fortune in recent championship outings over the distance, failing to finish at the 2023 European 10,000m Cup and 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Caune carries Latvia's Cup hopes
A lot of interest will also be focussed on Agate Caune with the super-talented Latvian being the reigning European U20 3000m and 5000m champion from two years ago.
Caune, now 20, ran 31:55.79 in a mixed race when she was just 18 in 2022 and although her 21st place over 10km in Leuven was not what she wanted, the Cup offers a good opportunity to establish her medal credentials ahead of the European Athletics U23 Championships in Bergen, Norway this coming July as well as, perhaps, get Latvia’s first ever medal at this event.
The 2025 European 10,000m Cup will be streamed live on the European Athletics YouTube channel without any restrictions and will be accompanied by English-language commentary.
Phil Minshull for European Athletics