Norway’s Karoline Grøvdal wins third consecutive Spar European Cross Country Championships

Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal became just the second woman in history to three-peat at the European Cross Country Championships on Sunday. The meet took place in historic Laeken Park in Brussels, Belgium.

The 33-year-old won the nine-kilometre race in the time of 33:40. Rounding out the podium was Nadia Battocletti of Italy in 34:25 and Abbie Donnelly of Great Britain who finished in the time of 34:42.

Grøvdal won four bronze medals in a row and then earned a silver medal. She finally won the Europeans in Dublin in 2021.

Last year, she successfully defended her title after an exciting head-to-head battle with German Konstanze Klosterhalfen in Turin, Italy. On the steep downhill section in the closing final 400 metres, Grøvdal kicked hard to pass Klosterhalfen to become a two-time winner.

The two wins placed her alongside Great Britain’s Paula Radcliffe (1998 and 2003), Hayley Yelling (2004 and 2009) and Ireland’s Fionnuala McCormack (2011 and 2012). Grøvdal will need to go one more to tie Türkiye’s Yasemin Can who is a Kenyan that transferred alleigances. She is the lone four-time winner from 2016-2019.

How the race played out

Early on, Grøvdal was battling Battocletti and Donnelly as well as Jessica Warner-Judd of Great Britain and Sweden’s Sarah Lahti.

Lahti was dropped at halfway and then retired shortly after.

An utter legend! 👑

One week after qualifying for her fifth Olympics in the Valencia Marathon and less than six months after her third child, Fionnuala McCormack 🇮🇪 finishes fourth in #Brussels2023! 🥵

This was her 18th SPAR European Cross Country Championships appearance! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/UPUSnHDp9O

— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) December 10, 2023

Grøvdal asserted herself at that point with Donnelly hanging on but was obviously near her limit. The two separated themselves from the pack.

It was during the fourth of six laps that Donnelly began to fade a little as Grøvdal made a decisive move over the final 100m for the win.

“Everyone thinks that I am training in mud like this, but I don’t. I am a track athlete, but I have a background in cross-country skiing. That’s probably why I am good at cross-country. I will try to win a fourth title next year, but I think three in a row is already amazing,” said Grøvdal. 

The meet included men’s and women’s U20 and U23 championship race. Full results>>

Results

TEAM RESULTS