European Athletics (EAA) – News – No clear favourites but fantastic races in store at the European Cup 10000m

A total of 85 athletes – 47 men and 38 women – from 28 European Athletics Member Federations will take part in the 15th European Cup 10000m in Oslo on Saturday.

Four men have personal bests time under 28 minutes, with the fastest being Spain's Chema Martinez, the 2002 European Athletics Championships 10000m gold medallist who moved up to win the marathon silver medal in front of his friends and family in Barcelona last summer.

His best time of 27:30.56 dates from 2003 but he has remained a consistent performer at a very high level despite now being 39.

Martinez won the Cup 10000m in 2004 and 2009 but slipped to third last year behind Great Britain’s Mo Farah and France’s Abdellatif Meftah.

Meftah will also be in the race this time around and is looking for a fast time, perhaps getting close to Antonio Martins’ long-standing national record of 27:22.28, which has been on the books since 1992.

Alongside Meftah on the start line will be Driss El Himer, another of the quartet to have run under 28 minutes, and the pair will be hoping to lead to the top of the podium again after they won the team title – decided by the combined times of a country’s top three runners – on home soil in Marseille 12 months ago.

The other man who has gone under 28 minutes is Germany’s 2005 European Athletics U23 Championships 10000m silver medallist Andre Pollmächer, who clocked 27:55.56 back in 2007.

Pollmächer, now 28, won the Cup in 2007 but his outing in Oslo will be his first serious track race in four years as he has concentrated on the roads, competing in the marathon last the last World Championships in 2009, and also been hit by injuries.

There will also be a great deal of interest the performance of Portugal’s Youssef El Kalai, whose bronze medal at the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships suggest he could also be a medal contender in the Norwegian capital, and Turkey’s 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 1500m silver medallist Kemal Koyuncu.

Six women have run under 32 minutes, including a trio of Portuguese runners: Jessica Augusto, Dulce Félix and Sara Moreira.

Augusto won at the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in December and also took the 10000m bronze medal at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona last summer but Félix can boast of being the fastest European over the distance this year with the 31:33.42 she clocked at the Trofeo Iberico 10,000m in Pontevedra, Spain, in early April.

Moreira, the 5000m bronze medallist in Barcelona last summer, also finished third in last year’s Cup when she ran a personal best of 31:26.55.

With a very strong team, Portugal are the favourites to make it a hat-trick of team victories after also winning in 2009 and 2010.

In fact, Portugal is historically by far the most successful nation in the women’s race having won the team honours at nine of the 14 previous editions of the Cup.

The fastest women in the field is Germany’s Sabrina Mochenhaupt, won ran 31:14.21 in the 10000m final at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Mockenhaupt finished second in last year’s Cup race, crossing the line after 25 laps of running in 31:23.28 and coming home just over 10 seconds behind the Portuguese winner Inès Monteiro, who is sadly still recovering from an injury sustained last summer.

However, the diminutive German knows what it takes to win the Cup and she triumphed in 2005, winning in what was then a personal best of 31:21.28.

French marathon record holder Christelle Daunay is another woman who has gone under the 32-minute benchmark, with a best time to her name of 31:47.19.

In Oslo, she is hoping to improve on her fifth place of last year and also the French 10000m record of 31:42.83, which has belonged to Rosario Murcia since 1992.

“This year the French 10000m record is in my sights. I’m not going to let it escape again,” said Daunay recently.

Hungary’s Krisztina Papp has also gone under 32 minutes, the 2003 European Athletics U23 Championships 10000m gold medallist having a best of 31:46.47 which she achieved last year.

However, the spotlight will also be shone on two women who have never run 10000m on the track before: Turkey’s 2010 European Athletics Championships 5000m gold medallist Alemitu Bekele and Great Britain’s 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 3000m winner Helen Clitheroe.

“I just want do one (10000m) on the track and see what happens but I'm focusing on 5000m for rest of the summer,” said Clitheroe recently.

Also in the British team is Charlotte Purdue, the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships junior women’s gold medallist.

Purdue, who turns 20 on 10 June, was the top European finisher in the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships senior women’s race in March and is looking to improve substantially on her best of 32:36.75, which is the UK junior women’s record.

She was the fastest European junior over the 10000m last year, and the second fastest under 23 runner, which augurs well for her chances at this summer’s European Athletics U23 Championships which will be held be in the Czech city of Ostrava between 14-17 July.

European Athletics (EAA) – News