Zersenay Tadese (ERI) wins in Mombasa (© Getty Images)
Reigning World Cross Country champion Zersenay Tadese will be the undisputed star at the ‘26th Cross Internacional de Itálica’ which will be held in Santiponce (Seville) on Sunday (20).
The race is the sixth of the eleven permit meetings scheduled for the 2007/2008 IAAF series before the 36th IAAF World Cross Country Championships to be held in Edinburgh next 30 March.
The 25-year-old Eritrean made his season’s cross country debut last Saturday precisely in the Scottish capital where he finished runner-up to Kenenisa Bekele.
Tadese was the Ethiopian’s vanquisher at last year’s World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa bringing an end to Bekele’s five-year reign as long course champion. Edinburgh’s was Tadese’s first outing since his convincing win at the 2nd IAAF World Road Running Championships in Udine where he covered the Half Marathon distance in 58:59, a national and championships record.
After spending 15 days for Christmas in his native Asmara – where he suffered a minor car accident which prevented him from making demanding training sessions but only for a few days – Tadese is back again in his European base of Madrid where he is covering an average of 150 kilometres per week “with more quality work than the previous years” says his coach Jerónimo Bravo. Tadese has scheduled his next outing at the ‘Cinque Mulini’ IAAF leg next 3 February.
Kipsiro, Komon, Mosop, Kiprop…such a line-up!
As every year, Sunday’s field will be of the highest calibre comprising the three medallists from Mombasa in the guise of Tadese (gold medallist), Kenya’s Moses Mosop (silver) and his countryman Bernard Kipyego Kiprop.
In this respect, organisers have confirmed the presence of Mosop, whose appearance had been announced for the last two Sundays permits in Campaccio (6 January) and Elgoibar (13) but he finally didn’t contest those events. The reigning World silver medallist is expected to arrive in Seville today from his European base in Brussels.
The Mombasa rematch should provide enough interest for Sunday’s 10,800m event but the organisation has also been able to bring together two of the most in-form athletes at this stage of the season in the guise of Uganda’s World 5000m bronze medallist Moses Kipsiro and Kenya’s Leonard Komon.
21-year-old Kipsiro remains unbeaten this winter following a hat-trick of victories in Kampala (9 December), Trier (31 December) and more recently at the IAAF Cross Country permit in Belfast a fortnight ago where he beat in style Kenya’s Barnabas Kosgei.
Kipsiro, who has already stated he’s targeting a medal at the World Championships in Edinburgh, will have a perfect occasion to assess his chances as he takes on the whole Mombasa podium.
As for the 2006 World Junior Cross Country runner-up Komon, he was a surprise winner last Sunday at the Elgoibar (Spain) permit. The 20-year-old took a massive victory over two renowned cross country specialists such as Bernard Kiprop and Ethiopia’s Tadese Tola. Both of them alongside Zersenay Tadese’s training partners Zimbabwe’s Cuthbert Nyasango and Eritreans Yonas Kifle and Ali Abdallah should also be in the hunt for a top-five place. Kifle is fresh from a 10km road win this Wednesday (16) in Jaén (Spain) ahead of Eritrea’s Kidane Tadese and Ethiopia’s Alemayehu Bezabeh, 29:22 being his winning time.
The Spanish contingent of Juan Carlos de la Ossa, Chema Martínez, Juan Carlos Higuero and Jesús España should be satisfied with a top-ten finish given the enormous depth of the African squad in contention.
Jepkorir-Jepleting showdown – Women’s race
All the eyes in the women’s 8000m event will be focused on a thrilling duel between two reigning World outdoor bronze medallists in the guise of Eunice Jepkorir (3000m steeplechase) and Priscah Jepleting (5000m). Both Kenyans have proven to be in fine shape very recently as they posted respective wins last Sunday also on Spanish soil.
While Jepkorir became an overwhelming victor at the Fuensalida permit getting the better of Portugal’s Ines Monteiro by 25 seconds, Jepleting had a tighter success in Elgoibar where she outclashed Ethiopia’s Wude Ayalew Yimer in the final 200m. Yimer, 10th at last year’s World Cross Country Championships is also entered.
The third world-class Kenyan in action will be three-time World Junior cross country medallist Veronica Nyaruai Wanjiru. The 18-year-old is also the current World Junior 3000m champion and will be joined on Sunday by the Madrid-based Eritrean Meraf Batha, who placed 6th in the Mombasa junior race and came seventh in Elgoibar last weekend.
The European athletes will have the hard assignment of avoiding an African clean sweep of the medals. For that purpose some of the continent’s crème have been assembled with the reigning European Cross Country champion Marta Domínguez heading the cast despite a distant fourth place in Fuensalida, a huge 56 seconds adrift Jepkorir.
However, Domínguez took revenge of that defeat last Wednesday night (16) when she clocked 33:16 for a 10km mix-gender race on the road called ‘Nocturna de San Antón’ beating Jepkorir by one second. Russia’s 2006 European Cross Country silver medallist Mariya Konovalova, who narrowly missed a medal in Toro, Hungary’s Aniko Kalovics, holder of top five finishes in the past three European Cross Country Championships and a fine fifth in Edinburgh last Saturday plus Britain’s Hattie Dean, a praiseworthy 15th finisher in Mombasa should also have a thrilling encounter with the top European spot at stake.
As it’s usual in the city, Seville will enjoy a nice day on Sunday with the thermometer rising up to 20ºC.
Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF
