European Athletics (EAA) – News – France and Spain name strong squads for the European Cup 10000m

France’s Abdellatif Meftah and Spain’s Ayad Lamdassem are the top names in their respective countries’ teams for the 2011 European Cup 10000m, which will be held in the Norwegian capital Oslo on 4 June.

Meftah set a French national half marathon record of 60:46 in Lille last September, the fastest time by a European runner in 2010, and following his successful marathon debut in Paris last month, he returns to the track aiming to improve on his best of 27:34.81.

Last year, the 29-year-old runner finished second in the Cup behind Britain’s Mo Farah, when it was held on home soil in Marseille.

He also led France to the men’s team gold medals. Along with Meftah, defending their men’s team title will be Driss El Himer, Denis Mayaud, Mokhtar Benhari and Djamel Bachiri.

Meftah, El Himer and Mayaud were France’s scoring trio last year while Benhari, now 36, won the Cup in 2006 when France also took the men’s team honours.

France will be represented in the women’s race by Christine Bardelle and French marathon record holder Christelle Daunay.

“This year the French 10000m record is in my sights. I’m not going to let it escape again,” said Daunay recently. The mark that she is hoping to improve on soon is 31:42.83, which has belonged to Rosario Murcia since 1992.

She went respectably close last year when she ran 32:02.04 for fifth place at last year’s Cup. In previous years, she has also twice run below 32 minutes as a time trial in mixed races.

Lamdassem, the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships silver medallists who also finished fourth in the 2010 European Athletics Championships 10000m, also has a fast time in mind in Oslo and will be looking to improve on his three-year old best of 27:45.58 over 25 laps of the track.

Also in the Spanish men’s team are: Pablo Villalobos, Ricardo Serrano, David Solis and Rafael Iglesias. The Spanish women’s team is: Isabel Checa, Estela Navascues, Lidia Rodríguez and Vanessa Veiga.

Great Britain’s 2010 European Athletics Championships 10,000m silver medallist Chris Thompson has the fastest European time of the year, in fact the fastest by a European runner for nearly nine years, after he ran 27:27.36 in California earlier this month.

Portugal’s Dulce Félix is the fastest European woman so far this year, leading the lists with 31:33.42.

European Athletics (EAA) – News –