Britains Abbie Donnelly finishes a fine 20^th in a World Cross senior womens race won by Beatrice Chebet of Kenya for the second time

Abbie Donnelly is establishing herself as one of most popular and inspirational members of the GB cross-country team. After winning bronze at the European Championships in Brussels in December, she finished an admirable 20^th in Belgrade on Saturday (March 30).

Up ahead, Beatrice Chebet of Kenya successfully defended her title while European champion Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal of Norway was 14th and just 28 seconds ahead of the Brit, after having been twice as far ahead in Brussels.

Not only is Donnelly producing the goods in her races, but off the track she is self-effacing and self-deprecating. Moments after shed spoken to AW post-race, for example, her team-mate Alice Goodall revealed Donnelly had made her colleagues in the senior womens race a team GB bracelet. Later, Calum Johnson admitted Donnellys words during her Friday night team speech had helped him compose himself on the start line in the mens race.

Donnelly did not find it easy in Belgrade, though. Its such a hard run to judge, the 27-year-old said. My mouth was really dry. When trying to breathe you cant swallow very well. You feel like youre suffocating but youre trying to relax, so its all about trying to manage that. The Brits arent used to this kind of weather at this kind of year either.

As Chebet battled Lilian Rengeruk and Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi for the win in 31:05, Donnelly remained in the zone, running her own race and eating up the ground with her long raking stride before finishing with a flourish to get 20^th place. Her dream goal was a top 15 spot but she remained happy with 20^th as it was four places higher than the World Cross in Bathurst 12 months earlier.

Behind, Lauren McNeil and Goodall were 45^th and 46^th.

Lauren Heyes and Niamh Brown did not finish, however. It was a painful exit for Heyes as she has a long history with the World Cross and was a late replacement for Jess Warner-Judd. I ultimately set off too fast in the heat and paid the price, Heyes said, while Brown is understood to have suffered similarly in conditions that saw the temperature gauge rise to 27C although it felt even hotter in the sun.

Elsewhere in the race, Weini Kelati of the United States was a few seconds behind Grøvdal, which meant Donnelly was second European home.

As for Chebet, the 24-year-old became the first athlete to win back-to-back titles in the womens race since Tirunesh Dibaba in 2006.

With Emmaculate Anyango Achol in fourth and Agnes Jebet Ngetich in fifth it meant Kenya swept the top five places in the race.

We won the team title, that showed very strong teamwork, said Chebet, who had warned at the pre-event press conference that she would be tough to beat after an underpar performance at the Kenyan trials.

After trials we trained together, we eat the same food. We were a team and being together helped us achieve the best result here.

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It is not easy to come to a world championship and defend your title, there is a lot of pressure. My target was to be on the podium. I felt I was stronger with about 500m to go. The course was so good, the weather was good like in Kenya, very sunny, and the obstacles were not as hard.