Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet and Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo both successfully defended their status as reigning champions at the 2024 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on Saturday, in the women’s and men’s senior (10K) categories.
The World Cross Country Championships is a one-day event that features five championship races, a senior men’s and senior women’s 10K, U20 men’s 8K, U20 women’s 6K, and an 8K mixed relay. Canada sent a team of 28 athletes to the event.
In the men’s race, Kiplimo launched an attack on the final lap, shattering a lead group that included Gideon Rono and the Ugandan Olympic 5,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei. Kiplimo sped across the finish alone in 28:09, with Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi three seconds behind in 28:12. Kenya’s Benson Kiplangat clinched the bronze medal in 28:14.
All the glory goes to Uganda 👏
Jacob Kiplimo successfully defends his #WorldCrossCountry crown in Belgrade 🤩 pic.twitter.com/eYIrCkvJtU
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) March 30, 2024
In the senior women’s category, Chebet led a pack of five Kenyan contenders at the halfway mark. Near the end of the race, Chebet and fellow Kenyan runners Lilian Rengeruk and Margaret Kipkemboi surged ahead, with Chebet charging past her compatriots to secure the win in 31:05. Rengeruk followed closely behind in 31:08, while Kipkemboi took third place in 31:09.
Dutch distance star Sifan Hassan was set to make her World Cross Country Championships debut, after a fourth-place effort in the Tokyo Marathon on March 3, but withdrew several days before the event The 2021 double Olympic champion in the 5,000 and 10,000 wrote on Instagram that she needs to give her body time to heal while focusing on her preparation for Paris.
Team Canada’s results
Nine sets of medals were awarded in five races on Saturday, with team and individual medals for men and women at both under-20 and senior levels, as well as in a mixed relay.
Philippe Morneau-Cartier of La Pocatière, Que., was the top Canadian finisher in the senior men’s race in 41st, crossing the line in 30:04, with Glynis Sim of Salmon Arm, B.C. taking the top Canadian’s spot in the senior women’s race, finishing in 38th in 34:37. The Canadian senior men’s team finished 11 out of 15 teams, while the senior women’s team finished 8 out of 12.
Senior men’s race
41 Philippe Morneau-Cartier (La Pocatière, Que.) 30:04
57 Andrew Davies (Sarnia, Ont.) 30:27
63 Thomas Fafard (Repentigny, Que.) 30:44
80 Mike Tate (Antigonish, N.S.) 32:24
Senior women’s race
38 Glynis Sim (Salmon Arm, B.C.) 34:37
42 Leslie Sexton (Markham, Ont.) 34:55
44 Katelyn Ayers (Victoria) 35:04
50 Kate Bazeley (St. John’s) 35:17
54 Mikaela Lucki (Toronto) 35:42
For more results from the 2024 World Cross Country Championships, click here.
