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Norwegian greats Jacob Ingebrigtsen and Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal will defend their European Cross Country Championships titles on Dec. 11 in Turn, Italy.

Ingebrigtsen won last year in Dublin, Ireland. He finished ahead of Aras Kaya of Turkey and Jimmy Gressier of France to make it five European titles as a U20 athlete.

He also happens to be the Tokyo Olympic 1500m and world 5000m champion. He will be racing with his brothers Filip and Henrik.

The 22-year-old holds eight national or European records or bests in indoor and outdoor track. He is also a two-time World Athletics Championships medallist with one gold and one silver from Eugene in 2022.

Grøvdal took the women’s senior title last year. Finishing in second place was Meraf Bahta of Sweden and Alina Reh of Germany took third.

Like Ingebrigtsen, Grøvdal is a former European U20 champion, which she won back in 2009. The 32-year-old is a three-time Olympian. She holds the Norwegian 5000m record with her 14:31.07 performance in Oslo. She holds six national records or bests.