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The 30th European Cross Country Championships will be held on Sunday, December 8, at stunning Dokuma Park in Antalya, Turkey and the front of the field will be historically fast.

The event will see nearly 600 athletes from 39 European nations competing in the famous Park.

Some of the competitors are among the best athletes in the world including Ethiopian-born, Italian Yeman Crippa. He is the European half marathon champion. Five-thousand and 10,000m champion Nadia Battocletti from Italy is favoured. Multiple Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway leads the way.

The men’s race

Ingebrigtsen is the pre-race favourite. He is a two-time champion at this event. Norway’s team includes his brother Filip and Magnus Tuv Myhre. They are favoured to medal and very much in contention to win.

Spain’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo, a 10,000m bronze medallist in Rome will place in the top-10. Spain generally looks strong with Adel Mechaal and Abdessamad Oukhelfen toeing the line.

Meanwhile, Crippa, should also finish top-10, putting Italy in contention for a team medal.

Team Sweden may surprise with world-class distance runner Andreas Almgren having run 26:52.87 on the track.

Belgium is the defending nation and continues to look strong.

The women’s race

The women’s race will be exciting.

Battocletti won the event at the U20 and U23 levels. Now, she is up for a senior championship win. She holds national records in the 5000m at 14:31.64 and the 10,000m event with her 30:43.35. The Italian team is a pre-race favourite as Frederica Del Buono and Ludovica Cavalliis are candidates to finish top-20.

Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen, a silver medallist in the 2022 running of the European Championships returns. On October 27, she ran the Valencia half-marathon in the time of 67:07. “Koko” took bronze in the 5000m at the 2019 Doha World Athletics Championships. The German team looks strong and in contention for a podium finish.

Turkey’s Yasemin Can, a four-time European cross-country champion from 2016 to 2019 will be a factor.

How to watch

The championships will be streamed through the European Athletics website from 11:00 local time (CET+2) and will be accompanied by English-language commentary from two-time World Cross Country Championships silver medallist Tim Hutchings and 2011 World Athletics Championships 1500m silver medallist Hannah England.

In addition to English-language commentary, there will also be the option of watching the live stream with French, Czech, German, Poland, Serbian and Croatian commentary.

The 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships will also be televised in 15 countries across Europe.

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