Alina Reh, one of the top young athletes in Germany, will spearhead their squad at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Samokov - 12 months after making the podium.
Reh, 17, returns to the junior event where she finished fifth in Belgrade in 2013, the leading performance by a German in the 4km event which saw the team win bronze.
This summer she enhanced her impressive reputation further when she finished second in the 3000m at the 2nd Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing in 9:05.07 and it was at those same championships that fellow teenager Konstanze Klosterhalfen was fourth in the 1500m.
Klosterhalfen, also 17, is named in what is looking a very strong junior team for Samokov which includes Tatjana Schulte, who was part of the squad that was third last year.
As Great Britain’s Emelia Gorecka won individual junior gold in Belgrade in 13:06, Reh ran 13:34 while her fellow German Maya Rehberg was 10th in 13:41.
Rehberg has now moved up to the under-23 level, an event she will run in Samokov as part of the 25-member squad for the championships on 14 December.
Portugal have named 16 athletes for Bulgaria and their women’s team includes Sara Moreira who made quite an impression when she finished third at the New York Marathon this month.
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Moreira also won the 7.5km at the 33rd Cross de Torres Vedras in 26:07 over the weekend, a 37-second victory ahead of the next best finisher, in what was her first cross country outing of the season.