European Athletics (EAA) – News – Portugal double victory at the European Cup 10000m

Surprisingly hot conditions couldn't stop Youssef El Kalai and Sara Moreira providing Portugal with individual victories in both the men's and women's races at the 15th European Cup 10000m in Oslo on Saturday.

El Kalai, the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships bronze medallist, came home in 28:20.03 to take just over 10 seconds off his previous best.

He moved away from Spain's Chema Martinez, the 2002 European Athletics Championships 10000m gold medallist and twice a Cup winner, on the last lap and the latter had to settle for second place on this occasion.

Martinez, who also took the marathon silver medal in front of friends and family at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona last summer, came home in 28:24.16.

A distant third, although he will be pleased with his first serious track outing in four years, especially considering the difficult conditions, was Germany's 2005 European Athletics U23 Championships 10000m silver medallist Andre Pollmächer in 28:39.57.

With three men under 29 minutes, the only nation to achieve that feat, Spain ran out relatively easy winners in the men's team contest with an aggregate time of 1:26:04.89. Martinez was helped to his second trip to the podium by Rafael Iglesias and Pablo Villlalobos, who finished fourth and eighth respectively.

It was Spain's first men's team win since 2007 but their seventh in 15 editions of the Cup.

Overall, there were 36 finishers from 45 starters in the two races, excluding the Kenyan pacemakers, but some notable non-finishers, clearly deciding that the day was not conducive to fast times, included France's Abdellatif Meftah and Driss El Himer; two of the four men – along with Martinez and Pollmächer – who have run under 28 minutes in their careers.

However, despite two of their top men dropping out, last year's winner's France did mange to take the team silver medals with a time of 1:27:51.97 while Portugal were third with 1:28:16.51.

Turkey's 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 1500m silver medallist Kemal Koyuncu and Portugal's Rui Pedro Silva were also among the nine men who failed to make it to the line.

Moreira started as one of the favourites for the women's race, especially after the sad late withdrawal of her compatriot and 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships winner Jessica Augusto following to the death of her father, and fulfilled pundits' predictions that she was going to do well.

After finishing third in last year's Cup in Marseille, when she ran a personal best of 31:26.55, this year nothing less than first was going to be satisfactory and the 5000m bronze medallist from Barcelona last summer delivered when she triumphed in 31:39.11.

 

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channel. French marathon record holder Christelle Daunay finished second in a personal best 31:44.84 but will have mixed feelings about her performance.

 

On one hand, Daunay ran faster than ever before in far-from-ideal conditions, improving by more than two seconds, and got on the podium for the first time in five appearances in the Cup. She was also the first French woman to get a medal since Margaret Maury won in 2004.

However, Daunay just fell short of the French record of 31:42.83, which has belonged to Rosario Murcia since 1992.

The fastest woman in the field was Germany's Sabrina Mochenhaupt, who has run 31:14.21; however, this year the 2005 Cup winner finished third in 31:57.23.

Seven women went through the halfway point together before the pace hotted up in the second half of the race and the pack broke up.

There had been a lot of attention beforehand on the debut over 25 laps of the track by Great Britain's 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 3000m winner Helen Clitheroe, and she eventually finished fourth in 32:11.29 after going to her marks with a target of 31:45.

"It was really hot but I felt good at 3km; the pacemaker was struggling and we were all surging but nobody wanted to pass her. As soon as she dropped out at 4km, the girls at the front really started to push on. I started to feel it a bit by 5km, I think the heat got to me and little things were starting to annoy me," reflected Clitheroe, making her comments on www.ukathletics.org.

"Maybe I pushed it on a bit too much at the start, but I felt alright. I don't regret it because it was the pace I wanted to run. You're never going to get the time if you don't hit the pace. Fourth isn't bad in a European Cup race and it's certainly not a disaster, but I've set myself high standards after a few good results. I know it's there, but it was just so hot and I'm not as used to it as some of the other girls out there," she added.

The understandable absence of Augusto and the failure to finish of the fastest European of the year Dulce Félix meant that Portugal were always going to struggle to retain the team title they won in 2009 and 2010.

In the end, they finished second and Italy ran out the winners with an aggregate time of 1:37:50.55 – with Nadia Ejjafini, Rosaria Console and Elena Romagnolo finishing fifth, eighth and ninth respectively – for their first women's team title.

Portugal were more than a minute adrift with 1:39:17.61 while Belarus, the bronze medallist 12 months ago, were third again with 1:39:53.55.

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European Athletics (EAA) – News