Seventh heaven for Lebid

The Ukraine‘s Sergey Lebid proved himself to be Europe's greatest cross country runner when he regained his SPAR European Cross Country Championships crown and earned his seventh senior men's gold medal.

Lebid, the winner in 1998 and then five consecutive years between 2001 and 2005, followed every move made by his rivals and hit the front with 600m to go to defeat his co-favourite Sweden's Mustafa Mohamed.

"It's a marvellous feeling to win again, I'm happy as well that I'm in good condition again after so many problems during the rest of the year," said a grinning Lebid, who performed his latest feat with Belgium's Gaston Roelents watching from the sidelines.

Roelents, four times a winner of the International Cross Country Championships and the 1964 Olympic 3,000m steeplechase champion, could possibly lay claim to being Europe's best cross country exponent until the emergence of Lebid in the last decade.

"It wasn't easy to prepare for this race because there has been so much snow in the last weeks where I train in Kislovodsk in Russia. I had to go to the stadium and every day I had to run in the stadium, train in the stadium," added Lebid

"The race was also difficult today as there was a lot of wind. I guess the race was rather strange for everyone as no one wanted to push the pace. When it eventually speeded up, I was ready for it though. Mustafa Mohamed and I know each other quite well but I came out on top tactically."

Lebid crossed the line after 10.700m of running in 31:47 with Mohamed nine seconds behind, easing off in the final 200m after having conceded the race to his rival.

A surprise bronze medallist was Portugal's Rui Silva, better known for his multiple medals over 1,500m on the track but making his debut at the Championships, who crossed the line in 31:58.

Silva came through strongly in the final 1,500m, after lying seventh at the bell to claim the bronze medal in 31:58.

The race didn't really get started as a contest until nearly 8km with 18 men still part of a big leading part who were being buffeted by the increasingly strong winds which had picked up during the course of the morning.

Spain's former European 10,000m champion Chema Martinez pushed the pace for a brief period from 9km but was accompanied by Lebid and Mohamed as the trio put daylight between themselves and the rest.

However, Martinez was soon unable to stay with his companions and, as the Spaniard faltered, Lebid decided to test his Swedish opponent with a series of surges with one kilometre remaining.

Mohamed, the second fastest European steeplechaser of all-time only succumbed as the pair went uphill on the final lap 600m from home, the only twisting part of the course.

Sweden's 35-year-old Erik Sjoiqvist, a regular training partner of Mohamed's had an outstanding run to finish fourth, a huge improvement on his previous best of 22nd in his six previous appearances.

Martinez, after his efforts late in the race eventually finished fifth but had the consolation of leading Spain to the team gold medals for the first time since 2002 with a total of 33 points. Once place and one second behind Martinez was his compatriot Jesus Espana, the 2006 European Athletics Championships 5,000m gold medallist.

Portugal finished second in the team competition with 64 points while France, champions for the last four years, had to settle for third on this occasion with 75 points

Source/Courtesy
European Athletics (EAA)
https://www.european-athletics.org/
EAA