Italian Nadia Battocletti finally won the Cross Internacional de Atapuerca on her fourth attempt, while Kenya\u2019s Mathew Kipsang pipped Rodrigue Kwizera to victory at the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold event on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kazakhstan\u2019s defending champion Daisy Jepkemei took charge of the pacing duties right from the start of the women\u2019s 6.82km race and she led a five-strong group, followed by Battocletti, Kenya\u2019s Sheila Jebet, Great Britain\u2019s Megan Keith and Spain\u2019s Majida Maayouf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 36-year-old Spaniard began to lose ground shortly after the third kilometre, but she still ran clear ahead of a group of her compatriots which included Idaira Prieto, Isabel Barreiro, Marta Serrano and Angela Viciosa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keith moved to the front midway through the race but Battocletti looked comfortable running on her shoulder, followed by Jepkemei and Jebet. At the bell, with a 2km lap remaining, the lead quartet had built a 24-second margin over Maayouf, herself 25 seconds clear of Prieto, who was always at the helm of the chasing pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some 17 minutes into the race, 20-year-old Jebet decided to push hard and her change of speed was only covered by Battocletti, while Jepkemei and Keith formed another pair way back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jebet led for just over a kilometre before the 25-year-old Italian made her move some 500 metres from home, breaking away from the Kenyan with incredible ease as she opened a sizeable advantage in a matter of a few strides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She crossed the finish line unopposed in 22:21, 13 seconds ahead of Jebet. In a tough fight for the third place on the podium, Jepkemei prevailed over Keith by a couple of seconds, while Maayouf finished fifth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy win might have seemed easy, but I felt frozen and the race was tough because of the cold and the wind,\u201d said Battocletti, the world 10,000m silver and 5000m bronze medallist this year in Tokyo. \u201cIt\u2019s my fourth outing in Atapuerca and I finally managed to win here. That makes me extremely happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boosted by the local crowd, as he was born just 30km away from Atapuerca, Spain\u2019s Daniel Arce was a lonesome leader at the start of the men\u2019s contest, also held over 6.82km. Although his margin never surpassed six seconds, Arce led for 2.6km before he was reeled in by the pack of favourites that was always led by Kwizera, while Kipsang travelled quietly in the middle of the large group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following a relatively slow penultimate 2km circuit, which took 5:56, Kwizera picked up the pace at the bell. His change of speed whittled down the lead group to six athletes, including Kipsang, Burundi\u2019s Emile Hafashimana and the Spanish trio of Thierry Ndikumwenayo, Said Mechaal and the national 10km record-holder Ilias Fifa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kwizera\u2019s pace soon paid off, as first Hafashimana then Mechaal and finally Fifa could not maintain the change of speed. The trio of Kwizera, Kipsang and Ndikumwenayo entered the closing kilometre in single file but the latter lost any chance of winning with some 350 metres remaining as he began to lose ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kwizera tried desperately to lose Kipsang over the closing stages, but the in-form Kenyan managed to remain close to the Burundian despite a brisk circuit timed at 5:35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kipsang finally unleashed a powerful sprint to overtake Kwizera, as he had done a week earlier at the Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in Soria. As a result, the 30-year-old Kenyan remains unbeaten on his European cross-country tour as he has won successively in Cardiff, Soria and Atapuerca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yenenesh Shimket successfully defended her Cinque Mulini title, while Saymon Amanuel beat last year\u2019s winner Matthew Kipruto to win the men\u2019s race at the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in San Vittore Olona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ethiopia\u2019s Shimket broke away during the first of the three laps making up the 6.2km women\u2019s race and had a five-second advantage over Burundi\u2019s Elvanie Nimbona and Kenya\u2019s Sharon Chepkemoi by the end of that first loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shimket continued to dominate, building a lead of 21 seconds by the end of the second lap and 35 seconds by the finish line, which she crossed in 19:11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nimbona, who finished fourth at the Cinque Mulini last year, improved by one place as she was pipped by Chepkemoi in the race for the runner-up spot. A single second separated them \u2013 Chepkemoi clocking 19:46 to Nimbona\u2019s 19:47.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valentina Gemetto was the leading Italian athlete, finishing fourth in 20:19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amanuel secured the men\u2019s title by a similar margin to become the second Eritrean winner of the race after Zersenay Tadese who won in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 18-year-old made his winning move during the third of the four laps and, after finishing fourth over 10.2km last year, he won this year\u2019s 8.2km contest in 22:48 \u2013 32 seconds ahead of the defending champion Kipruto of Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Home star Iliass Aouani finished third in his first race since claiming marathon bronze at the World Championships in Tokyo, clocking 23:29. He joined Kipruto and Amanuel in the lead pack during the first couple of laps but was seven seconds back by the end of the second circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aouani was applauded over the finish line by Amanuel, as he held off his compatriot Luca Alfieri by two seconds to finish as the top Italian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Milkesa Fikadu and Tirhas Gebrehiwet battled the wet conditions and their rivals to complete an Ethiopian double at the Cross International Le Maine Libre-Allonnes-Sarthe \u2013 the weekend’s third World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 20-year-old Fikadu improved on his third-place finish from last year, covering the muddy 6.71km course in 21:12, while 18-year-old Gebrehiwet won the women\u2019s race \u2013 held over the same distance \u2013 in 24:05.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to the wet conditions, many athletes ran without their bibs meaning full results could not be confirmed on the day of competition, but the victories by Fikadu and Gebrehiwet were without doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French athletes clinched the runner-up spots in both races, Fikadu finishing strongly to hold off Yann Schrub and Gebrehiwet winning five seconds clear of Alessia Zarbo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fikadu\u2019s compatriot Abrha Gebru and Kazakhstan\u2019s 2022 world steeplechase champion Norah Jeruto both finished fourth in Allonnes last year but this time they made the podium \u2013 each improving by one place to finish third.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Italian Nadia Battocletti finally won the Cross Internacional de Atapuerca on her fourth attempt, while Kenya\u2019s Mathew Kipsang<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[50,280],"class_list":["post-6439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-athletics","tag-cross-country"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t