Previews02 Jan 2009


Twell and Kiprop top the fields in Antrim – Antrim International Cross Country preview

FacebookTwitterEmail

Stephanie Twell (GBR) wins the 2008 European XC junior women's race (© Mark Shearman)

Rising British endurance star Stephanie Twell provides the central interest in the opening IAAF cross country permit race of the new year – the Antrim International on Saturday (3 Jan).

The 32rd running of the annual event in Nothern Ireland has moved from its home for the past nine seasons at the Stormont Estate to a fast, flat parkland course at CAFRE, the Greenmount Campus in Antrim with Twell the principal entrant in the 5.6km senior race for women.

All eyes on Twell’s debut as a senior

The 19-year-old British athlete enjoyed a stellar 2008, landing the IAAF World Junior 1500m title in Poland in July and last month securing an unprecedented hat-trick of European Junior Cross Country titles in her final international outing as a junior.

Now a fully-fledged senior athlete, Twell has opted to open her account for 2009 in Antrim – a race in which she finished sixth behind Hayley Yelling last season.

Some have paid the teenager the ultimate compliment by comparing her with Britain’s endurance queen and World Marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe and her debut appearance of the year is likely to come under close scrutiny.

Twell’s main opposition is likely to come from the US athlete Emily Brown, who finished an impressive 18th in the senior women’s race at the 2008 World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh last year.

Brown, 24, also made progress on the track last season - running a new personal best of 9:45.38 in the women’s 3000m steeplechase - and she, too, will want to make her mark in Antrim.

Viktoria Trushenko is another who will have to be watched. The 2008 Russian Cross Country bronze medallist showed her ability with an 11th place finish in the women’s senior race at last month’s European Cross Country Championships in Brussels.

Twell, who led home an unprecedented 1-2-3-4-5-6 for the all conquering British team in the women’s junior race at the European Championships last month, will come in direct rivalry with her countrywoman Emily Pidgeon who finished fourth in that race.

Pidgeon, who won the European Junior 5000m title back in 2005, has vast experience for a 19-year-old and she will also want to also test herself against top quality senior opposition.

European cross country under-23 silver medallist Sarah Tunstall and the 13th place finisher in the women’s senior race, Laura Kenney, bolster the British challenge.

Kiprop Leads men's field

Commonwealth 10,000m champion Boniface Kiprop will be strongly fancied to add his name to an impressive cast list of former winners - including Steve Ovett, Paul Tergat and Sergiy Lebid – in the 9km men’s race.

The Ugandan finished sixth behind Lebid six years ago and the 23-year-old, who placed 10th in last summer’s Olympic 10,000m final in Beijing, will be hoping to start his season with a bang in Antrim.

Among his principal rivals will be Ethiopia’s Imane Merga, who showed his cross country pedigree by finishing seventh in a high class junior race at the 2008 World Championships in Edinburgh. Merga, 20, also emerged as a respected track performer last summer, posting a personal best of 13:08 for the 5000m in Ostrava and last month triumphed in a cross country race in Aranda de Duero in Spain.

British 8:22 steeplechaser Andrew Lemoncello and Burundi’s Jean Ndayisenga, a recent winner in Birmingham, are also entered.

Steve Landells for the IAAF

Pages related to this article
DisciplinesCompetitions
Loading...