Spain have announced a team of 40 runners for next week’s SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Samorin, Slovakia, where their senior men will aim to keep up an amazing record.
Led by Adel Mechaal, who is chasing his second European gold of the year, the Spaniards will look to maintain a run that has seen them make the podium at every European cross country championships since 2005, including winning the title three times in the last five years.
Twelve months ago in Chia, the senior Spanish men won team silver behind Great Britain and Mechaal and Ayad Lamdassem, the individual runner-up in 2010 and 2011, return in a squad where they are joined by veterans Javier Guerra, Jesus Espana, Daniel Mateo and Juan Antonio Perez.
Mechaal has had a superb year, winning 3000m gold at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March and finishing fourth in the 1500m at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 in August.
Trihas Gebre was Spain’s first finisher in Chia, when she was seventh, and she will go to Samorin in fine form as she demonstrated at the Cross Internacional de la Constitucion in Alcobendas on Sunday where she finished second.
España presenta un potente equipo para el Campeonato de Europa de cross - Samorin (Eslovaquia) el 10 de diciembre https://t.co/uZOCYgw8ie pic.twitter.com/ygdINtMh09
— atletismoRFEA (@atletismoRFEA) November 28, 2017
Nuria Lugueros, Ana Lozano, MarÃa José Pérez, Marta Perez and Maitane Melero make up the rest of the Spanish senior women's team.
Carlos Mayo will always look back on 2017 with great memories after his brilliant performance to win 10,000m gold at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Bydgoszcz in July and he now he will hope to finally land a title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
Mayo has been runner-up in the U23 race for the past two years and prior that was second in the U20 race.
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Celia Anton returns to the international scene in the women’s U23 event while Ignacio Fontes and LucÃa RodrÃguez will carry Spain’s main hopes in the U20 events.
Spain will also be aiming for glory in the 4x1500m mixed relay, which becomes part of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships programme for the first time, and they are represented by national 1500m champion Solange Pereira, multiple national road mile champion VÃctor Ruiz, national 800m champion Esther Guerrero and Jesus Gomez.#
At the European Athletics U20 Championships where Jasmijn Lau, of the Netherlands, produced a superb performance to win the 5000m and she will be looking for more glory as she runs in the U20 race in Samorin after finishing fifth in the same age category 12 months ago in Chia.
Austria are sending their biggest team to the SPAR European Cross Country Championships, naming 22 runners for the trip over the border to Slovakia. They include a big hope in Stefan Schmid in the U20 race while in the senior women’s event, Julia Hauser will be looking to make her mark having competed in the triathlon at the Olympic Games in Rio last summer.