SENIOR MEN’S PREVIEW : Legend Lebid faces toughest test for many years – European Athletics (EAA) – NEWS

Seven-time SPAR European Cross Country Championships senior men's gold medallist Serhiy Lebid can rightly feel confident about his chances in this Sunday's race but the Ukrainian also faces his strongest challenge for many years.

In addition to Great Britain's 2006 European cross country champion Mo Farah returning to the fray after being unable to defend his title last year due to an ill-timed groin injury, Sweden's Mustafa Mohamed and Spain's Alemayehu Bezabeh look like credible contenders to snatch Lebid's crown in Brussels.

However, Lebid is feeling quietly optimistic after following his usual pre-Championships routine and training for a month in the south of Russia.

"I have raised the bar for myself greatly after winning half of the previous SPAR European Cross Country Championships but I don't really think too much about what I did in the past years. I do not feel any extra pressure from anyone," said Lebid earlier this week.

"I don't make any plans or tactics in advance. I will wait until the beginning of the race and will think about a strategy then and there, that has always been my approach since I started running cross country. To put it simply, I will try to hold on to an advantageous position in the leading group and then make a  move before the finish," added the 33-year-old from Dnepropetrovsk who can make a reasonable claim to be Europe's greatest ever cross country exponent.

His seven victories at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships have come on every type of course so 10,000m of heavy going around the Parc de Laeken holds little fear for Lebid.

"In fact some of my best running has come in the worst conditions. I'm always very happy to return to Belgium regardless of how muddy the race is. Remember, I won a silver medal at the 2001 World Cross Country Championships in Oostende when the conditions were very difficult," added Lebid.

Farah doesn't have any qualms about the anticipated sticky conditions either, with Sunday's course probably made even more testing with five previous races having been run on it on, after having learnt his trade by running during the traditional cold and wet British winter.

"My training is going well," said the 26-year-old who is based in south west London and who has prepared for this race by spending five weeks training at altitude in Ethiopia.

"Being in Ethiopia and among the world's best runners has been a big experience for me. I think I am in fairly good shape, although it is difficult to know as I have just come down from altitude training so I won't feel the benefit for another couple of weeks," said Farah recently.

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Britain's Mo Farah is back and raring to reclaim the
title he won in 2006 in San Giorgio, Italy.
"Cross country is very important to me. I have always tried to compete at this event (the SPAR European Cross Country Championships), going right back to being a junior,"he added, remembering that he first came to many people's attention by 2001 junior men's silver medal.

Training alongside Farah in Ethiopia was Mohamed. The pair may be rivals when the gun goes but are good friends off the track and they share a similar background with both men being born in Somalia.

"In fact, we often speak Somali when we are together because Mustafa doesn't sometimes understand my south London accent. He speaks English very well, like nearly every Swede, but he speaks very correctly," Farah has joked in the past about his friend.

However, Mustafa believes he is in good enough shape to make sure that Farah does not have any breath left to chat, regardless of the language, while they are duelling for the medals.

The Swedish steeplechaser star, the second fastest European ever over the barriers, is aiming to continue his progression up the Championships medal podium, having won the bronze medal in 2006 and the silver in Toro, Spain, last year.

"I was in camp in Addis Ababa for around a month in camp. The training worked very well there. Dealing with the altitude was tough in the beginning, it was far higher than I was accustomed to, but I've come back to Europe and I can feel it's been a big benefit," said Mohamed.

Lebid, Farah and Mohamed all have been pedigree performers at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in the past but, by contrast, the Ethiopian-born Bezabeh will be making his first appearance after getting his Spanish passport in July.

"I arrived in Spain in 2004, when I was 18-years-old and I quickly decided that I wanted to run for my adopted country. As you can imagine, I was very proud that I was able to make my Spanish international debut at the Olympics and make the 5,000m final. Now, I want to go on from here and challenge for medals at the European Cross Country Championships and help the Spanish team do well," reflected Bezabeh.

Spurred on by the motivation of appearing at his first major continental championship, Bezabeh has been in terrific form this winter with outstanding results on the very competitive Spanish cross country circuit.

He won at the Cross de Atapuerca on November 9 before then finishing third against tough African opposition at both the Cross Internacional de Soria and the Cross Internacional del Valle de Llodio last month, races which were respectively IAAF and EA Cross Country Permit Meetings.

Three men from last year's top ten who didn't get among the medals are also back looking to have one hung around their necks his year.

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Going by form this season, Spaniard
Alemayehu Bezabeh will be the one to watch
out for this Sunday.
Sweden's Erik Sjoqvist, Ireland's Martin Fagan and Portugal's Ricardo Ribas finished fourth, seventh and ninth respectively.

"I set a half marathon personal best in October, I've had a spell training at altitude in Arizona and, to cap it all, I've recently won a good quality road race (the 2008 Manchester Road Race in the United States on Thanksgiving Day) after a long time without winning a race. I'm recovering my confidence after having to drop out of the Olympic marathon,"said Fagan, who was the European Athlete of the Month for October.

France is also sending a classy team containing the likes of 2000 bronze medallist Driss El Himer and Bob Tahri, who was fourth in 2005, his only other previous appearance at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.

Hosts Belgium could also have someone to cheer among the leaders. Peter Desmet was 13th last year but looks to be in even better shape this winter, with the evidence coming with his victory at the Lotto CrossCup van de provincie West-Vlaanderen in Roeselare last month, one of Belgium's two European Athletics Cross Country Permit Races this winter.

"I hope to finish in the top 10 in Brussels but you never know what could happen on home soil," said Desmet, with a broad smile after his win in Roeselare.

France has won the team title five times in the past eight years, with Spain winning the other three times during the same period, and the two nations could be the main contenders for the gold medals again, despite the fact that conventional wisdom suggests that the latter's runners may not be too comfortable with the anticipated conditions in Brussels.

However, Portugal took the silver medals last year and could also enter the reckoning to possibly lift their first senior men's team title since 1997, if the likes of Ribas and Rui Pedro Silva can rise to the occasion.

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SPAR European Cross Country Championships