Four of the six gold medallists at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Samokov last December will carry the continent’s hopes in Guiyang on Saturday.
Polat Kemboi Arikan, Gemma Steel, Yemaneberhan Crippa and Rhona Auckland all run at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in southwest China.
The quartet ended 2014 in superb style in Bulgaria and will now look for one last big performance before the ‘winter’ season comes to an end.
It was quite a day for Arikan in Samokov as he showed just too much speed in the home straight to beat his Turkish teammate Ali Kaya and Spain’s Alemayehu Bezabeh.
Arikan is his country’s sole representative in China where one of the biggest threats will be Kenya’s Bedan Karoki Muchiri who is a double national cross country champion and was fifth in the 10,000m at the Olympic Games in London in 2012.
Like Arikan, Great Britain’s Steel did just enough to hold off a teammate as she beat Kate Avery to gold in the women's race and she insists she has a great deal more to give.
'The 10km on the road and cross country are very similar, which works for me, as it’s all about strength and stamina. I am only just reaching what I am capable of doing so there is plenty to come,' said Steel, 29, speaking to athletics weekly.com.
Steel is joined by Auckland who won gold for Britain in the under-23 race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
She has not run since and told athleticsweekly.com: 'Just not knowing how I am racing takes the pressure off a little bit. I am going in with the confidence from that – I know I can produce that performance and fitness wise, I am similar to where I was in Samokov, so I am trying to use it in a positive way.'
They will face Ding Changqin, who won double gold at last year’s Asian Games, and is one of China’s main hopes for home success, while it will be some occasion for Spain’s Jacquelin Martin. She is 40 and ran the first of her 14 world cross country championships 17 years ago.
The European challenge in the men’s junior race will see Italian Crippa look to build on his success in Samokov where he won in 20:07. His teammate Said Etaqqy, who was third that day in 20:28, is also running.
In the women’s junior event, Denmark’s Anna Emilia Moller, who was sixth in December, will look to make a further impression.