The history of the European Championships that comes back to Italy six years after Chia 2016: 9 as the golden medals won by Lebid, 4 as the consecutive titles won by Yasemin Can, 28 as the event's editions

It is the fourth time that Italy hosts the event within the twenty-eight editions, from 1994 to 2022. The competition at La Mandria Park makes Italy the country who hosted most editions, after Ferrara 1998, San Giorgio su Legnano 2006 and Chia 2016. Great Britain and Portugal share three, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia two. Here they are, in the chronological summary (the 2020 edition was canceled due to the pandemic).

 

Alnwick 1994, Alnwick 1995, Charleroi 1996, Oeiras 1997, Ferrara 1998, Velenje 1999, Malmö 2000, Thun 2001, Medulin 2002, Edinburgh, 2003, Heringsdorf 2004, Tilburg 2005, San Giorgio su Legnano 2006, Toro 2007, Brussels 2008, Dublin 2009, Albufeira 2010, Velenje 2011, Budapest 2012, Belgrade 2013, Samokov 2014, Hyères 2015, Chia 2016, Šamorín 2017, Tilburg 2018, Lisbon 2019, Dublin 2021

WINNERS. Among the senior men, the Ukrainian Serhiy Lebid dominates out of reach, nine times gold medal, once silver and twice bronze. Four titles for the first gold medalist in the history of the event, the Portuguese Paulo Guerra, who also won a silver medal. Two golds each for the Spanish Alemayehu Bezabeh and the Turkish Aras Kaya (also a silver medal and a bronze one for both).

 

SENIOR MEN'S MEDALS. Thanks to Lebid, Ukraine is in pole position for the number of gold medals (twelve overall podiums), but Spain is the one with the highest number of podiums, sixteen, composed by two golds, nine silvers and five bronzes. Turkey and Portugal follow Ukraine with five and four gold medals, but with ten and eleven podium respectively. Italy is proud of its complete set of medals, gold for Andrea Lalli in 2012, silver for Yemaneberhan Crippa in 2019 and bronze for Daniele Meucci in 2012. Last podium was in Dublin 2021: gold for Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, silver for Aras Kaya and bronze to the French Jimmy Gressier.

 

WOMEN WINNERS. Among the senior women, the reign of the Turkish of Kenyan origins Yasemin Can appears, at the moment, faultless, with four consecutive gold medals from 2016 to 2019. The athlete who has the most podiums ever is the Norwegian Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal, six medals in the last six editions, in the irresistible progression of four bronzes, a silver and a gold in the last European Championships in Dublin. Two golds each also for the British Paula Radcliffe and Hayley Yelling and for the Irish Fionnuala Britton. The other British Gemma Steel and the Finnish Annemari Sandell also conquered the full set of medals.

 

SENIOR WOMEN'S MEDALS. Great Britain occupies the first position with five golds and ten medals overall. Turkey is second, thanks to Yasemin Can's four successes and eight podiums in total, as are Portugal, which however brought one of its athletes to gold on only one occasion. Italy never reached the podium within senior races. The last edition, in Dublin last year, saw Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal with gold, Swedish Meraf Bahta with silver and German Alina Reh with bronze.

 

HIGHEST & LOWEST. The clearest success, with the greatest lead over the chaser, is still the one of the British Jon Brown, who in 1996 in Charleroi finished a good 0:35 before the outgoing winner Paulo Guerra. The minimum margin, with the same time for the European champion and the silver medalist, was in the 2014 edition, in Samokov, with the Turkish couple Polat Kemboi Arikan and Ali Kaya. Among the senior women, a record gap of 0:15 for the Finnish Sandell and, twice, for the Turkish Can. Minimum difference, same time, on the occasion of the gold of the British Steel in 2014.

U23 MEN WINNERS. The first race was in 2006. Among the men, the three-year golden period of the French Jimmy Gressier made history, three times gold medalist from 2017 to 2019. The Spanish Carlos Mayo also on the podium twice (two silver), the French Florian Carvalho and Hassan Chahdi (one gold and one silver each), the British Andy Vernon (one silver and one bronze) and the Italian Yemaneberhan Crippa (two bronzes).

 

U23 MEN'S MEDALS. France first among men both in the number of gold medals (six) and podiums (ten). Six medals for Great Britain (two gold), one gold and three bronzes for Italy, with Andrea Lalli winning in 2008 and the double bronze for Yeman Crippa (2016 and 2017) and the one for Daniele Meucci in the first edition for the category, in 2006. Last podium in Dublin, gold for the British Charles Hicks, silver for the Irishman Darrah McElhinney and bronze for Ruben Querinjean of Luxembourg.

 

U23 WOMEN WINNERS. Four athletes have won a medal on two occasions: the Danish Anna Emile Møller, gold in 2018 and 2019, and the British Emma Pallant, gold in 2011 after the silver the previous year, but also the Serbian Amela Terzic (silver 2013 and bronze 2015) and the German Anna Gehring (silver in 2016 and 2018). Italy on the podium with Nadia Battocletti's gold medal in Dublin in 2021. Among the ‘big’ of recent seasons, who won a U23 medal at the European Cross Country Championships, are the Dutch Sifan Hassan, gold in 2013, and the German Konstanze Klosterhalfen, silver in 2017.

 

U23 WOMEN'S MEDALS. Ten medals, but three gold, are the individual record of Great Britain, which is out of the U23 podium in the last five years. Five medals for the Netherlands, with two golds, and for Germany, with one. Gold-silver combination on two occasions, in 2017 with the Germans Reh and Klosterhalfen and in 2011 with Pallant and Taschimowitz from Great Britain. The Dublin 2021 podium: gold for Nadia Battocletti, silver for Slovenian Klara Lukan and bronze for Portuguese Mariana Machado.

 

HIGHEST & LOWEST. It was Henrik Ingebrigtsen who put the signature of the greatest gap on the runner-up. The Norwegian finished with a 0:12 advantage in 2012 in Budapest, but Andrea Lalli and twice Jimmy Gressier also stood out with an good gap of 0:08. For Gressier also a success with the smallest gap, just 0:02, as well as, in chronological order, for the Hungarian Bene, the Turkish Koyuncu and the Russian Safiullin. Among the U23 women, a huge margin for the Danish Anna Emilie Møller in 2019, 0:39 on the occasion of his second category title.

U20 MEN'S WINNERS AND MEDALS. Jakob Ingebrigtsen for history: four gold medals from 2016 to 2019, before the senior one in 2021. The Norwegian's feats allow the Scandinavian country to also lead the medal table (six podiums in total, like Italy), even if Great Britain (eight podiums but never with the gold medal), Russia (ten times), and France (seven times) have gone on the podium several times. Among the multi-medalists, behind the super Ingebrigtsen, there is the fabulous Italian Yemaneberhan Crippa and his double gold in 2014 and 2015. In last edition, Scandinavian domination, even without Ingebrigtsen, with gold for the Danish Axel Vang Christensen, silver to the Norwegian Abdullahi Dahir Rabi and bronze to the other Danish Joel Ibler Lillesø.

 

U20 WOMEN'S WINNERS AND MEDALS. In the history of the event, four girls have been able to put gold around their necks at least twice, the Italian Nadia Battocletti (last in chronological order), the German Konstanze Klosterhalfen, the British Emelia Gorecka (with a record of four individual medals) and Stephanie Twell (who won three titles). Complete set of medals for Gorecka and her compatriots Knowles-Jones and Purdue, Serbian Terzic and Romanian Bobocel. In the U20 women's medal table there is the clearest domination, by Great Britain, of individual competitions. Nine times gold, five times silver and seven times bronze. Last podium was: gold for the British Megan Keith, silver for the Norwegian Ingeborg Østgard and bronze for the German Emma Heckel.

 

HIGHEST & LOWEST. Nadia Battocletti is among the four U20 winners with the smallest margin, on the occasion of the success of Tilburg in 2018 (only one second), while the widest gap belongs to the Latvian Inna Poluškina since 2003, with 0:25.