The Italians and the Norwegian shot, in rhythm, without twisting their faces, without forcing their torso. The British and the Nordic tried it, undaunted, to their own. He kept up his stride and withstood any attack. Until he said this is how far you have come, he quickened his pace and, without breaking down, as if it were inevitable and inexorable, crowned solo on the last climb to the castle to revalidate his continental cross country title. Who are we talking about? Well, who else? From the great Jakob Ingebrigtsen, master and lord also of the European cross country for the second consecutive year.
There is something impressive about the Norwegian's running. It doesn't change. It seems that it travels and floats more than it accelerates. Through the green meadows of the Turin circuit, in the outskirts of La Mandria castle, residence of the former royal house of Savoy, Ingebrigtsen did what he wanted and when he wanted. He was letting the fuses of his adversaries burn out (first the Italians Crippa, Chiappinelli and Zoghlami and then the young and brave British Emile Cairess) to wait for his moment, already beyond kilometer 7.
Then he took the lead and never gave up. The race, of 10,000 meters in total, with a short lap of 1,000 and six of 1,500, had a fairly flat profile, with the exception of the beautiful ascent and descent to the castle, at which point the victory of the Nordic was finished. He won with a time of 29m33s, ahead of Cairess (29m42s) and the Belgian Isaac Kimeli (29m45s).
The best Spaniard was Mo Katir in his debut in a European cross country, ninth, 33 seconds behind the winner. Far from the individual medals but collaborating with Abdessamad Oukhelfen (tenth) and Carlos Mayo (seventeenth) for Spain to take the team bronze.
Ingebrigtsen landed in Piedmont after preparing for a month at altitude in Arizona. There she coincided with her compatriot Karoline Grovdal, who won the female category.
The Norwegian was always on the lookout for the German Koster Klosterhalfen and with 300 meters to go she starred in a change of pace that no longer had an answer. Grovdal thus revalidated her title from last year and won the 8,000-meter event, with a time of 26m25s, ahead of Klosterhalfen 26m29s and the also German Alina Reh (27m19s). Both Grovdal and Ingebrigtsen will race in Barcelona on December 31.
In addition to the men's team medal, Spain added silver in the mixed relay and Marta Forero was proclaimed champion of Europe under-20, a category in which the women's team was gold and the men's, bronze.
