Italy\u2019s Nadia Battocletti, fresh from her convincing win at Atapuerca last weekend, and Burundi\u2019s Rodrigue Kwizera will start off as the favourites at the Cross Internacional de la Constituci\u00f3n in Madrid this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Battocletti and Kwizera took commanding wins in Alcobendas last year on their way to winning the overall titles on the World Athletics Cross Country Tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World and Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Battocletti, will line up against a quality field which includes the likes of Kenya\u2019s Sheila Jebet, Great Britain\u2019s Megan Keith and Ethiopia\u2019s Yenenesh Shimket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jebet, a fifth-place finisher over 5000m at the 2024 World U20 Championships, finished runner-up to Battocletti in Atapuerca while Keith was fourth. Both Battocletti, the European cross-country champion and European 10,000m bronze medallist Keith are building up for the European Cross Country Championships on 14 December. Alcobendas will be their last stops before that encounter in Lagoa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eighteen-year-old Shimket, fresh from a 35-second victory last Sunday in San Vittore Olona, has PBs of 8:32.05 for 3000m and 14:48 for 5km. The local challenge is led by Laura Luengo, who finished 11th in the marathon at the World Championships and recently clocked 30:59 on a downhill 10km course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kwizera has crossed the finish line in first place in Alcobendas for four years in a row (although his 2021 victory wasn\u2019t allowed to stand as he wasn\u2019t wearing his club\u2019s vest). The Spain-based Burundian kicked off this cross country campaign with a tight victory in Seville but then had to settle for the runner-up spot in Soria and Atapuerca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This weekend the 25-year-old will be up against the likes of Eritrea\u2019s Saymon Tesfagiorgis, Italy\u2019s Yohanes Chiappinelli and Spain\u2019s Thierry Ndikumwenayo. Eighteen-year-old Tesfagiorgis, who was a convincing winner in San Vittore Olona last weekend, competed in the 5000m at the World Championships. He has PBs of 13:01.85 for 5000m and 27:10 for 10km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
European 10,000m and cross-country bronze medallist Ndikumwenayo has placed fifth, fourth and third in his past three races. He won here in 2019 and will be keen to reclaim the top spot on the podium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former steeplechaser Chiappinelli will be racing for the first time since finishing sixth in the marathon at this year\u2019s World Championships. Ugandan duo Dismas Yeko and Samuel Cherop, fifth in the 5000m at last year\u2019s World U20 Championships, complete the international field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notable past winners here include Portugal’s 1993 world cross-country champion Albertina Dias (1996), Eritrea’s former world half marathon record-holder Zersenay Tadese (2005), Kenya\u2019s 2016 Olympic 5000m champion Vivian Cheruiyot (2009), Ethiopia\u2019s Olympic marathon champion Tamirat Tola (2015) and Uganda\u2019s two-time world cross country champion Jacob Kiplimo (2018).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Italy\u2019s Nadia Battocletti, fresh from her convincing win at Atapuerca last weekend, and Burundi\u2019s Rodrigue Kwizera will start<\/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],"class_list":["post-6525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-athletics"],"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