Brit blasts past Irishman in closing strides in Turin as Maria Forero of Spain overhauls front-running Innes Fitzgerald in the under-20 women’s race

The opening race of the 2022 European Cross Country Championships in La Mandria Park on the outskirts of Turin on Sunday (Dec 11) could hardly have featured a more exciting finish.

After duelling it out for much of the latter stages of the under-20 men’s race, Nick Griggs of Ireland had pulled away from Will Barnicoat of Britain and looked set for gold. However, with just a few metres to go he stumbled and lost his momentum.

Pouncing on the opportunity, Barnicoat blasted past to win the title and, in doing so, also led Britain to team victory over Ireland.

Amid the drama, the defending champion Axel Vang Christensen of Denmark, who coincidentally studies at the University of Birmingham with Barnicoat, struggled mid-race and dropped out.

Last year’s silver medallist, Abdullahi Dahir Rabi from Norway, also suffered and dropped out on the viciously undulating course. In addition, Joel Ibler Lillesø, the Danish athlete who beat Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s European indoor under-20 3000m record recently, faded to 13th.

“I saw him (Griggs) tiring so I thought ‘now’s my chance to take the title’ and I gave it everything I had,” an emotional Barnicoat told AW. “I wanted it so badly. I’ve been thinking about it so much in the back of my head. I ran through every scenario possible.”

To make ends meet as a student athlete, Barnicoat has been working part-time at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. “I’m not a professional. I’m a glorified pot washer but days like this make it all worthwhile,” he said.

Griggs threw up after the race, having given it his all, and the Irishman was magnanimous in defeat, saying: “I’m not sure if my stumble at the end was the ground or tiredness. But no excuses. Will is an unbelievable athlete and a lovely guy. I lost momentum at the end and am disappointed but I gave it everything.”

Barnicoat ran 17:40 ahead of Griggs’ 17:41, with the Irishman’s team-mate Dean Casey taking bronze due to his run of 17:46 as Barnicoat’s GB team-mates Sam Mills, Luke Birdseye and Ed Bird were fourth, fifth and ninth.

Forero takes junior women’s title

Maria Forero of Spain stormed to victory in the under-20 women’s race in 13:04 ahead of Ingeborg Østgard of Norway and Ilona Mononen of Finland.

British hope Innes Fitzgerald finished outside the medals in fourth but drew plaudits once again for her fierce front-running style of racing, not to mention her admirable travel tactics that involved getting a train from Exeter to Turin instead of flying due to environmental reasons.

Fitzgerald does not turn 17 until April and has been training seriously for less than a year under the guidance of Gavin Pavey, who, like many coaches, was at La Mandria Park to cheer on his athlete.

So far this winter she has blown away her domestic opposition but this was a step up in quality. Forero, for example, celebrates her 20^th birthday in March and finished fifth in the world under-20 5000m final in Colombia during the summer.

After her train trip of around 20 hours to the city, Fitzgerald showed little sign of fatigue and wasted no time asserting herself in the race as she strode to the front. Ultimately she faltered on the hills a little bit, though.

“On the uphill… BOOM!” said Forero, in broken English, as she described the moment she broke away from Fitzgerald on the final lap.

“I’m a bit disappointed that I got it tactically wrong and missed out on a medal position, but it was a good experience,” said Fitzgerald. “It was quick out there but I took it out too fast, I think. The hill at the end got me. I felt like my legs weren’t moving.”

On a day that saw many athletes wearing track ‘super spikes’, Fitzgerald chose to wear traditional cross-country spikes and felt it was the wrong decision.

When it came to her decision to get the train from England to Italy, she said: “Environmentally it’s so damaging that I can’t really justify it. It was a long old haul to get out here… about 20 hours.”

Fitzgerald is so young she can do the next three under-20 races at these championships and at next year’s event in Brussels she will be looking to make the podium, not to mention a slightly shorter train journey across the English Channel.

Behind Fitzgerald the British under-20 women’s team did not display their usual dominance with Rebecca Flaherty the second Brit home in 18th, just a few weeks after winning world mountain running silver in Thailand.

Spain took team gold ahead of Turkey and Germany with Britain fourth.