A total of 99 athletes representing 25 nations have been declared for the European 10,000m Cup on 19 May in London, making it the equal largest edition of the event with Lisbon in 2000.
The European 10,000m Cup will be incorporated into the Night of the 10,000m PBs which is held at Parliament Hill Athletics Track in north-west London. Pacemakers will also be implemented to assist athletes reach the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships qualifying standards of 28:55 (men) and 33:20 (women).
Spain took a clean sweep of the medals - and a record ninth team title - in the men’s race in Minsk twelve months ago and their athletes will be tipped to challenge for individual and team honours again. Their team is headed by reigning champion Antonio Abadia and European indoor 3000m champion Adel Mechaal who will be making his 10,000m debut next Saturday.
Other notable debutants include renowned cross country exponents Yemaneberhan Crippa from Italy and Florian Carvalho from France who have four titles from the SPAR European Cross Country Championships between them. Crippa arrives fresh from setting an Italian U23 5000m record of 13:18.83 in Stanford at the start of the month while Carvalho steps down in distance after representing France at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia at the end of March.
The fastest entrant based on lifetime best - and the only entrant with a lifetime best under the 28-minute mark - is Brit Ross Millington who clocked 27:55.06 in 2016 to gain qualification for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
With last year’s winner Sara Moreira from Portugal absent from the women’s race, there could be a rare victory for Israel. The fastest runner based on season’s bests is Lonah Chemtai, who produced a gun-to-tape 31:39.63 victory at the Israeli Championships earlier this month. Chemtai also broke the national 5000m record en route to the title.
The women’s line-up also features former two-time winner Sabrina Mockenhaupt from Germany who is the fastest based on lifetime bests with 31:14.21 and former SPAR European cross country champion Sophie Duarte from France.