Karolina Nadolska was back in form on home soil in the Poznan Half Marathon on Sunday where the 35-year-old recaptured her Polish record in 69:53 - becoming the first Polish woman to break the 70-minute barrier for the distance in the process.
“I'm back from maternity; for two years I was not running at a high level. This is one of the most beautiful days of my life,” she said after the race.
Nadolska represented Poland at the 2012 Olympic Games and can boast a world-class marathon lifetime best of 2:26:31 set three years ago. She missed out on making the Polish team for the Rio Olympics but her performance in Poznan suggests her best days might still be ahead of her.
Nadolska, who also holds the Polish 10,000m record, provided the second part of a Polish double in Poznan after Marcin Chabowski won the men’s race in 63:15.
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World and Olympic 5000m finalist Susan Krumins made a promising half marathon debut on home soil in the Venloop on Sunday. Krumins finished fourth in 70:52 in a race won by Kenya’s Naomi Jebet in 70:03.
Another stalwart of European distance running Sabrina Mockenhaupt won the 10km at the Herman Hesse Lauf in Calw in 33:39 as a tune-up to next weekend’s Berlin Half Marathon.
Mockenhaupt’s main ambition for the season is to claim the marathon qualifying time for the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.
Türkiye claims bronze in mixed relay in Kampala
Kenya and Ethiopia dominated the medal table at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Kampala on Sunday but Europe featured on the standings courtesy of a bronze medal from the Turkish team in the inaugural mixed relay.
Kenya claimed a gun-to-tape win in 22:22 ahead of the Ethiopian team anchored by world 1500m record-holder Genzebe Dibaba in 22:30 with a strong Turkish team helmed by European cross country champion Yasemin Can another seven seconds behind.
Can almost matched Dibaba on the last leg. The Ethiopian was the fastest woman on anchor with 5:27 but Can kept the world 1500m champion in her sights the whole way with a 5:29 clocking.
In the senior women’s race, Spain’s Trihas Gebre was like last year, the first European finisher in 20th position. Azucena Diaz backed her up well, finishing 27th to help Spain to a creditable seventh in the team race.
Spain’s Sergio Sanchez was listed as the top European finisher in 50th but European indoor 3000m champion Adel Mechaal reportedly finished ahead of him despite being listed as a DNF on the results.
Spain’s Mario Garcia and Italy’s Nadia Battocletti were the first European finishers in the U20 races, finishing 31st and 34th respectively.
There are 29 meetings across Europe this week, for more information go to www.european-athletics.org/calendar.