Filip Ingebrigtsen made it another memorable day for the incredible Norwegian family with a confident victory in the Senior Men’s race at the 25th European Cross Country Championships in the Netherlands.The Sandnes native completed a family double after Jakob earlier won the Junior Men’s race while the eldest of the three brothers Henrik was 18th behind Filip. Ireland’s athletes performed consistently well throughout the day but lacked that little bit extra to bring home a medal from these championships for the first time since 2015.
Behind Ingebrigtsen, Sean Tobin bounced back from a defeat in the Irish trials to finish an excellent 10th against the cream of the continent. His victor at Abbotstown, Kevin Dooney, also ran well on what was a traditional cross country course for 26th spot. Kevin Maunsell completed the Irish scoring trio in 34th to leave Ireland seventh ofthe 16 competing countries.
In the women’s race, Turkey’s Yasemin Can just about held onto repeat her 2017 victory but only after an exciting tussle with Switzerland’s Fabienne Schlumpf. The Irish women were perhaps disappointing with Sara Treacy leading the green vests home in 26th. To put it in context, that was well behind the sixth and final member of the British team who was 15th.Ciara Mageean took 43rd and Michelle Finn 51st to leave the Irish women in a lowly 11th place on the team classification.
Newcastle & District club man Ryan Forsyth turned in asuperb performance in the U23 Men’s event to take fourth behind Jimmy Gressier.The French athlete became the first man to defend successfully his title in the age group with an aggressive front-running display. Such was Gressier’s superiority he was able to celebrate along the finishing straight waving two French flags but his intended knee slide celebration across the finish line backfired into an ignominious fall on his face just short of the tape.
Forsyth, 11th in the recent American collegiate championships, was denied the bronze medal by France’s Hugo Hay with a mere second separating them at the finish line. Ireland were briefly in the teambronze position during the race but slipped to sixth when the final scores were tallied.
Denmark’s Anna Emilie Moller waited until the final straightof the U23 Women’s race to assert her authority. Omagh’s Eilish Flanagan made thelong trip home from the USA where she is studying to finish 15th. Ireland took ninth, maybe a little below expectations, in the team contest behind convincing winners Germany.
The Junior Men’s race saw a virtuoso performance from Jakob Ingebrigtsen who made it all look so easy. The European senior 1500/5000m gold medallist was always toward the front of the field before cruising away in the final kilometre for a record third consecutive victory in the race. That set up Norway for a first win in the team contest with Darragh McElhinney, in 16th,leading Ireland to a credible sixth in the team competition.
Ireland’s Sarah Healy, reigning European Youth 1500/3000m champion, was considered one of the favourites to take the Junior Women’s title.But tragedy struck for the 17-year-old Dubliner when she was brought down on a tight bend around the halfway mark of the four kilometre test. She picked herself up but the damage had already been done with the leading group grabbing a precious advantage.
A spirited effort got her back up to ninth at the finishline, one place behind team mate Emma O’Brien, but she was unable to prevent Italy’s Nadia Battocletti taking the individual gold medal. Great Britain were comfortable winners of the team race on 23 points with Ireland sixth on the 42mark. Just four points separated third place from seventh with Healy’s fall obviously proving fatal to Irish medal hopes.
There was no joy either in the final event, the mixed relay with Ireland a distant ninth behind a balanced Spanish quartet. Hopefully there will be a change of fortune for the Irish in Lisbon next year with Dublin now on the distant horizon in 2020. See results.
RESULTS
Senior Men (10,300m): 1 F Ingebrigtsen NOR 28:49, 2 I Kimeli BEL 28:52, 3 Aras Kaya TUR 28:56; … 10 Sean Tobin 29:22, 26 K Dooney 29:53, 34 K Maunsell 30:11, 55 K Batt 30:41, 67 M Clohisey 31:11, 78 D Landers 32:08. Teams: 1 Turkey 14, 2 GB/NI 34, 3 Italy 37 … 7 Ireland 70 (16 countries)
Senior Women (8300m): 1 Y Can TUR 26:05, 2 F Schlumpf SWI 26:06, 3 K B Grovdal 26:07; … S Treacy 27:46, 43 C Mageean 28:08, 51 M Finn 28:23, 57 A-M McGlynn 28:40, 62 F Ross 28:48, 64 K O’Flaherty 29:00. Team: 1 Netherlands 20, 2 GB/NI 24, 3 Germany 50, … 11 Ireland 120 (14 countries)
U23 Men (8300m): 1 J Gressier FRA 23:37, 2 S Fitwi GER 23:45, 3 H Hay FRA 23:48, 4 R Forsyth IRL 23:49, … 29 B Fay 24:47, 36 P O’Donnell 24:58, 51 C Doyle 25:17, 56 J O’Leary 25:31, 80 G Campbell 26:14. Teams: 1 France 11, 2 GB/NI 30, 3 Spain 42, … 6 Ireland 69 (16 countries).
U23 Women (6300m): 1 A E Moller DEN 20:34, 2 A Gehring GER 20:36, 3 W Pyzik POL 20:46; 16 E Flanagan 21:17, 25 A Richardson 21:32, 41 R Flanagan 22:04, 54 S O’Flaherty 22:25, 66 S McAllister 23:16. Teams: 1 Germany 21.5, 2 Spain 24.5, 3 GB/NI 33.5, … 9 Ireland 82 (13 countries)
Junior Men (6300m): 1 J Ingebrigtsen NOR 18:00, 2 O Oumaiz ESP 18:09, 3 E Bibic SRB 18:11; 16 D McElhinney 18:53, 18 S O’Leary 19:01, 21 J Battle 19:03, 60 M Power, 75 F Stewart 19:50. Teams: 1 Norway 28, 2 GB/NI 30, 3 Germany 38, 4 France 41, 5 Ireland 55 (15 countries)
Junior Women (4300m): 1 N Battocletti ITA 13:46, 2 D Sclabas SWI 13:47, 3 I Kalkan TUR 13:48; 8 E O’Brien 14:01, S Healy 14:03, 25 S Cotter 14:25, 35 J McCann 14:33, 60 S O’Sullivan 14:59, 61 L Nicholson 15:00. Teams: 1 GB/NI 23, 2 Netherlands 28, 3 Turkey 39, … 6 Ireland 42 (15 countries)
Mixed Relay: 1 Spain 16:10, 2 France 16:12, 3 Belarus 16:21, … 9 Ireland 16:40 (12 countries)