Sonia O’Sullivan: the sweet medal lure of the European Cross Country

The European Cross Country is one of those events which seem to creep up faster every year and just over a week out from the 2023 championships in Brussels, the Irish medal prospects are lining up again nicely.

It’s also developed in to one of the most important targets for Athletics Ireland every year, given our long tradition and recent success and the fact the standard of competition is well within reach of our athletes, at individual and team level.

The success of the last two editions – three medals won in Dublin in 2021, backed up by five medals in Turin last year – is evidence of this and it will be disappointing if medals of some colour and number are not won in Brussels.

Looking through the six Irish teams selected there is an opportunity and with three to score in the team races (it used to be four) there’s potential across the senior, under-23 and under-20 men’s and women’s teams. If you can get even one athlete inside the top 10, the chances increase dramatically for that team medal.

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Notably, only a couple of Irish athletes selected also competed at the World Championships in Budapest last August. Brian Fay (5,000m) runs the senior men’s competition in a race without two-time defending Jakob Ingebrigtsen due to injury, with Nick Griggs (1,500m) also running the under-20 for his last time.

Cross country is traditionally a building block and foundation for athletes. However, some may have started their build up late after a long track season and others will not want to take early season risks in the lead-up to an Olympic year.

So no Ciara Mageean or Sarah Healy. When a cross country race in December may not fit the plans, they will just train through not looking for any fitness indicators at this point.

The Irish teams were selected after the National Championships in Kilkenny last Sunday week. After all the heavy rain these races were run over a very heavy course, where the new 9km distance for both senior men’s and women’s races probably felt more like a 10km effort.

This wouldn’t always suit athletes with faster track and road times, but those who can grind out the effort in the sticky mud.

Cork’s Fiona Everard, who won her first senior title in Kilkenny a year after winning the National novice (and long spells of injury) will lead the senior women’s team, her first time back in an Irish vest since 2017, when she was a part of the under-20 team.

With the return of all three women, twins Roisin and Eilish Flanagan and Mary Mulhare, who secured a bronze medal last December, the depth and experience is there again to claim a team medal.

The colour likely depends on the strength of the Great Britain and German teams, with Spain also likely to be in the mix too. Fionnuala McCormack is also returning after her recent half marathon in Valencia, her time 70:13 a good indicator of a return to form in her first race back from maternity leave with her third child born earlier this year.

Just like she did in 2021, when the championships were held in Dublin and the senior women just fell short of a medal in fourth, she also plans to return to the Valencia marathon this Sunday, with the aim of securing an Olympic qualifying time below 2:26:50, then return a week later in Brussels.

The increase from 8km to 9km for the women will likely be in favour of McCormack, assuming she can recover in time again, although it is difficult to accurately predict the team outcome in any of the categories where so many factors come into play for athletes at this time of the year.

There is also little form to work off, with many countries looking to the depths of their endurance athletes to fill the teams, often from just one trial race at their recent National Championships.

Griggs returns to the Under-20 race for his final year in this category, looking to avenge his silver medal last year, falling as he approached the finish last year but still holding on for second. He never fails to give all he has but needs to balance his efforts in Brussels if he is to get on the podium again and set things up to help deliver a team medal in that event too; they won silver last year.

Oregon-based Anika Thompson also looks primed for a good run in the women’s under-23 race. That’s the thing; when a team has a strong individual who can place highly, the rest of the team are inspired to raise their performance and contribute to the best possible combined team score.

In the senior men’s event a lot will depend on the surface and footing for Fay is to deliver his best performance; in 2021, he finished in 10th place, just like the senior women – Ireland missed out on a team medal just four spots away from the bronze.

If he can replicate his performance from 2021 and with national champion Cormac Dalton alongside, with strong backing from Fearghal Curtin, Hugh Armstrong, Keelan Kilrehill and Kevin Mulcaire also making a welcome return to the Irish team, there should be room for the third Irish scorer to make a difference and potential there too for a team medal.

That’s the thing with European Cross Country; on a team of six athletes there will be opportunities for athletes to shine, to make a mark and in the process set themselves up to believe that they can qualify and deliver similar results when it comes to the European Championships on the track next June.

For many the event is a stepping-stone competition, where new faces get to shine alongside experienced athletes who come back year after year, all combining to get that taste of success that may just lead them to the next level.

It’s also about building that winter foundation of strength and endurance. Like money in the bank, that they can draw on throughout the indoor and outdoor track season, when times become a much bigger part of the equation.

But for any athlete looking to qualify for the European or Olympics next summer, no dream is too big when you get a small sweet taste of medal success at the European Cross Country.