Fiona Everard

Lagoa in the Algarve is set for what promises to be another classic edition of the European Cross Country Championships. More than 580 athletes are entered in the seven-race programme. Here are just some of the athletes to watch out for.

Senior Men

With just three of the top-10 from 2024 returning, the announcement on Monday that Jimmy Gressier, a three-time winner of the U23 race was a welcome addition to one of Europe’s premier endurance tests, especially once three-time senior champion Jackob Ingebrigtsen announced that he wouldn’t be defending his title. That, however, is not to say that the race lacks quality or big names. Either way, the race is guaranteed a first-time winner

Jimmy Gressier (FRA) waited until he opened his post-Tokyo account at a road race in Switzerland on Sunday before confirming his participation in the event. Gressier, who won the World 10,000m title in Tokyo in September, followed his U23 titles in 2017-19 with third in the senior race in 2021, but has not competed at the event since. He will be many people’s favourite for the title on Sunday.

Ruben Querinjean (LUX) finished 24th in 2024 but has made big strides over the steeplechase this summer, running a PB of 8:09.47 when winning the Brussels Diamond League before making the world final in Tokyo. The twisty course may well suit a steeplechase specialist accustomed to pace changes. Querinjean finished 3rd in the U23 race in 2021.

Spain placed four athletes in the top ten last year, and again look set to dominate the team competition. Their lead runner in 2024 was Thierry Ndikumwenayo, who won individual bronze. The Burundi-born athlete showed his truly world-class ability when he finished ninth at World Cross earlier in the year. Ndikumwenayo recently finished third at the World Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in Atapuerca.

Among the other Spanish hopefuls will be Abdessamad Oukhelfen, who has finished in the top 12 on each of the last four occasions (8th in 2024; 7th in 2023; 10th in 2022; 12th in 2021) and Aarón Las Heras who was 14th last year and 17th at the last World Cross Championships.

European 10,000m Champion and Olympic 5000m 4th placer Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu (SUI) will be making his Euro Cross debut. With personal bests ranging from 7:27.68 (3000m) to 59:12 for the half-marathon, he certainly has the speed and endurance to contend at this level. How he’ll cope with the lumps and turns of the Lagoa course remains to be seen.

Other athletes to potentially watch out for include Magnus Tuv Myhre (NOR), who was second in Brussels two years ago, Italian marathon record holder Yohanes Chiappinelli, who finished eighth in 2022, and Scott Beattie, who looked sublime when winning the British trails three weeks ago.

The Irish team is packed with experience. Brian Fay finished tenth in this race in Dublin, and Cormac Dalton was eighth two years ago. Both will be hoping to repeat those performances. Both Efrem Gidey (U20 bronze, 2019) and Darragh McElhinney (U23 silver, 2021) already have Euro Cross medals to their name. Jack O’Leary, who finished sixth in the U20 race in 2016 completes the team.

Senior Women

Reigning champion Nadia Battocletti, will start Sunday’s race as red-hot favourite, but others, including four-time winner Jasmine Can, home favourite Mariana Machado, former U20 and U23 winner Megan Keith and others will look to challenge.

The 24-year-old Italian Nadia Battocletti hasn’t finished outside the top two at this event since finishing sixth in the U20 race in 2017. Since then she’s taken two U20 titles, two U23 titles, and silver and gold in the senior race, as well as collecting Olympic and World silver and two European titles on the track.

Megan Keith (GBR) has been chasing Battocletti home in World Cross Country Tour meetings across Europe this autumn. The 2023 U23 champion and 2021 U20 champion will be making her first appearance in the senior race alongside compatriot and 2024 U23 champion Phoebie Anderson.

Home favourite Mariana Machado, an age-group rival of Battocletti, finished sixth in Antalya, and will be looking  to utilise course familiarity and local support to add to her bronze medals at U20 (2019) and U23 level (2021).

Jasmine Can (TUR) won four titles between 2016 and 2019, and though she only finished 39th at the European Road Running Championships earlier this year, her bronze in Antalya suggests that she can never be completely ruled out.

Jana van Lent (BEL) was fifth last year, and will again be looking to be in the shake-up for the medals, along with Lisa Rooms who was sixth the year before and recently won the Belgian Championships ahead of van Lent.

Sarah Lahti (SWE), seventh last year, recently won the Warandecross in Tilburg for the fourth time, while Diane van Es (NED) set a European 5km record on the roads in February.

Niamh Allen was best of the Irish last year in tenth place. While the dry course may not play to the strengths of fellow Cork woman Fiona Everard, the two-time national champion will look to use all her experience from the previous two editions. Danielle Donegan looks to be building on the form that saw her finish eighth in the U23 race in Brussels two years ago.

Mary Muhare has twice been on medal-winning senior teams, and will bring consistency to the team in her fifth appearance in the senior race. Having represented Ireland in both the European Championships and the European Team Championships in the past 18 months, Emily Haggard-Kearney will be looking to make the most of her first Euro Cross experience.

U23 Men

Will Barnicoat (GBR) will be going for a fourth consecutive underage title in his final year as an U23. To do so he will need to again overcome Ireland’s Nick Griggs who he just edged in the U20 race in 2022 and the U23 title last year; European U23 10,000m champion Joel Ibler Lillesø, and Stefan Nillessen who won both the 1500m and steeplechase titles in Bergen and what is set to be the event of the championship.

U23 Women

Ilona Mononen (FIN) who won silver in this race in 2023 and was third last year, will be looking to add another continental U23 title to the steeplechase one she won on the track this summer. But Maria Forero (ESP) who was second last year, fifth the previous year and took 5000m gold at Euro U23s will have other ideas. Among those they’ll be competing against are European U23 10,000m champion Anika Thompson, Bergin 10,000m runner-up Kira Weis (GER), and Lisa Merkel (GER), who was actually the fastest European U23 over 10,000m this summer.

U20 Men

Håkon Moe Berg (NOR) took 1500m and 3000m gold at the European U20 Championships in Tampere earlier this summer and will be battling this one out against, among others, Karl Ottfalk who was fifth last year and fourth in 2023, fellow Norwegian Magnus Øyen who was fourth last year. European U20 steeplechase bronze medallist Andres Lara is among a bunch of talented Spaniards also hoping to put up a challenge. Irish U20 Champion Noah Harris and the experienced Cormac Dixon will be looking to lead the Irish challenge.

U20 Women

It’s difficult to see past the 2023 and 2024 Champion Innes Fitzgerald (GRB), who has been peerless both on the track and on the country in this age-group over the past 12 months, for this title. Just some of those who may challenge include Andrea Nygård Vie (NOR) who won the European U20 steeplechase title this summer, Shirin Kerber (SUI) who was fourth last year, Carmen Cernjul (SWE) who won 1500m & 3000m silver at Euro U20s and Turkey’s Edibe Yağiz who was 14th last year and took 5000m silver in Tampere. Ireland’s Anna Gardiner will be competing in this race for the fourth time and will be hoping to at least match her seventh-place finish in 2023.

Mixed relay

Ireland is just one of a half dozen teams with realistic hopes of mixed relay medals. Hosts Portugal have the World 1500m champion Isaac Nader among their quartet. Italy are the reigning champions, with three of last year’s team starting, along with Gaia Sabbatini who anchored them to the title in 2022. France, Spain and Great Britain are also among the title contenders.

Many of Ireland’s top cross country athletes will be battling for national glory and Euro Cross berths in Templemore, Co Derry, on Sunday, while others will be competing against the best college athletes in the United States on Friday and Saturday.

Even when accounting for athletes whose clubs may have entered them out of hope rather than expectation, both the men’s and women’s fields for Templemore look pretty competitive. The U23 battles within the senior contests should add further spice to the not-to-be-missed races.

Ten in a row, anyone?

Last year’s champion Keelan Kilrehill is the one notable absentee from the men’s entries, meaning that only Darragh McElhinney, the 2022 champion, and Cormac Dalton, the winner in 2023, stand in the way of making it 10 different winners of the men’s National Cross Country title in as many editions.

Neither McElhinney nor Dalton will bow to such a niche statistic when they toe the line on Sunday, and both should be among those contesting the medals.

Among those looking to continue the streak are Nick Griggs, keen to win his first national senior title on any surface; Brian Fay, who, like Dalton, has a Euro Cross Top 10 finish to his name; European 10,000m Cup winner Efrem Gidey; Callum Morgan, who looked sublime when winning the Autumn International in October; and a resurgent Jack O’Leary.

Paul O’Donnell, Pierre Murchan and William Fitzgerald, who have also made the senior men’s team for Euro Cross in recent years, are also entered, as are Tokyo Olympian Stephen Scullion and recent national marathon champion David McGlynn.

Niall Murphy, who had the race of his life to finish second last year, will be back to defend his U23 title, but to do so he will again need to overcome Griggs and Morgan. Cathal O’Reilly, who finished 8th overall last year, is also still under U23 this year.

Wide open women’s race

As in the men’s race, the women’s race has lacked a consistent winner in recent years, with seven different winners in the past seven editions. The two most recent winners - Fiona Everard (2023) and Ann-Marie McGlynn (2024) - will look to change that.

Another previous winner on the startlist is Michelle Finn (2021), one of six Olympians entered, who has missed a year through injury.

Also entered is last year’s runner-up Niamh Allen, who went on to finish 10th in Antalya. Indeed, there’s a chance that all six from last year’s team compete again for places, with Dannielle Donegan, Mary Mulhare and Cheryl Nolan also entered.

Roisin Flanagan and Eilish Flanagan have both made the team on multiple previous occasions, and are also both entered to compete on Sunday.

Jodie McCann, Laura Nicholson and Eimear Maher, all better known as track athletes, will likely be hoping that an Irish mixed relay team is selected after an absence from the last two editions.

The first three in the U20 and Senior races in Derry will gain automatic selection for Lagoa, while the top two in the U23 categories will also be rewarded with Euro Cross selection. The Athletics Ireland selection policy suggests that they will select further athletes, up to a maximum of five in each event (it’s worth noting that the sixth qualifier for both the Senior and U23 men’s teams last year made the scoring three in Antalya!), leaving the door open for some of the athletes racing in the US this weekend to also be selected.

Across the Atlantic…

While the final lineup won’t be confirmed until the race starts, there could be as many as nine Irish athletes competing in the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Missouri, on Saturday.

Abdel Laadjel won the Big Ten Conference title three weeks ago, and helped the Oregon men gain an automatic spot for the ‘big dance’ last Friday. European U23 10,000m champion Anika Thompson helped the Oregon women qualify, and should start on Saturday.

Anna Gardiner, Cara Laverty, Niamh O'Mahony and Jane Buckley will all feature on the Providence team, which finished 2nd at the North East Region qualifier. Gardiner and Laverty were particularly impressive that day, finishing sixth and seventh individually. Gardiner is still an U20 for Euro Cross, while Laverty, like Thompson, is eligible for the U23 race.

Twenty-four-year-old Matthew Neill was also seventh at regionals and is likely to start for Syracuse. Dean Casey (Colorado) and Billy Coogan (Iona) may also run.

Eleven Irish athletes raced last year, with Casey (30th) and Thompson (32nd) the top Irish finishers. Keith Kelly was the last Irish individual winner of this prestigious event back in 2000.

Adams State will again be medal contenders at NCAA Division II Championships in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Saturday. European U23 and World University Games steeplechase finalist Ava O’Connor and Wexford woman Claragh Keane are among their likely starters.

On Friday, Heather Murphy (Montreat), who competed in the 10,000m at the European U23 Championships earlier this year, will be among the Irish racing at the NAIA National Cross Country Championships.

And next...

The Irish team for the European Cross Country Championships is due to be selected by Tuesday, 25th November. The event will take place in Lagoa, Portugal, on 14th December. Selections for the World Cross Country Championships - set for Talahassee, Florida on 10th January - will be made following the continental decider.

The IUAA University Cross champions will be decided in Dublin this Saturday, while the World Championships will be held in early January for the very first time. Here’s what we might expect from the three-month-long, action-packed cross country season.

Intervarsity Cross Country Championships, Dublin, Saturday 11th October 2025

In its new October home, entries for the IUAA Intervarsity Cross Country Championships are likely to be affected by an Athletics Ireland endurance camp currently taking place in Font Romeu. That said, universities from across the island will bring colour and enthusiasm to Tymon Park, and up-and-coming athletes will seize the opportunity to shine.

Pierre Murchan (TCD), Callum Morgan (QUB) and Niall Murphy (UL) took the individual honours in the men's race last year while University of Galway won the team title. Fiona Everard (University of Galway), Amy Greene (DCU) and Hannah Gilliland (QUB) won the individual medals in the women's race, while DCU took the team title just two points ahead of UCC.

The women's race on Saturday, which kicks off at 2pm, will be followed shortly after by the men at 2.30pm.

Autumn Cross Country and National Cross Country relays, Dublin, 18 October 2025

While many of the big names will likely skip this one, among the current entries for the senior races at the Autumn International Cross Country - which have not closed at the time of writing - are 2023 National Champion Fiona Everard and Euro Cross Country U23 and Senior representatives Cathal O’Reilly, William Fitzgearld, Micheál Power and Callum Morgan.

Athletes from Loughborough and Cambridge make up the international challenge this year, with last year’s winner Sophie Tarver expected to lead the way.

Entries for the National Senior Cross Country relay, which open the programme, include a host of Irish middle distance talent, including 2024 Olympian Jodie McCann, senior international Pierre Murchan, and European U23 1500m medallist Eimear Maher. There should be an exciting battle between Dublin City Harriers and Dundrum South Dublin for the title.

Competitive trials for the Masters’ Cross Country International and the National Juvenile relays will add to the atmosphere of the event in Abbotstown, which always looks splendid at this time of year.

The NCAA season, various

The US collegiate season is already underway, but the climax of the season very much coincides with the main events on Irish soil. The last big meets before conference championships take place next weekend, with the Nuttycombe Invitational and other events likely to include Irish interest.

The majority of the Division I Conference Championships take place on 31st October and 1st November, with nine Regional qualifiers on 14th November deciding the teams and individuals who will make it to the ‘big dance’ on 22nd November.

Twelve Irish athletes competed in the NCAA Division I Nationals last year, with Dean Casey 30th in the men's race and Anika Thompson 32nd in the women's race. Both are eligible to compete again this year.

A number of Irish athletes compete for Division II schools, and may earn a spot at Euro Cross via their performance at the Division II Nationals, also on 22nd November.

Irish National Cross Country Championships, Derry, 23 November 2025

The National Championships head to Ulster for the third time in four years as Derry plays host to the battle for national titles and the much-coveted spots on the European Cross Country team.

The first three in the U20 and Senior races will gain automatic selection for Lagoa, while the top two in the U23 categories will also be rewarded with Euro Cross selection.

But there are also national titles on the line. Keelan Kilrehill and Ann-Marie McGlynn are reigning senior champions, while Niall Murphy and Emma McEvoy, who took the U23 titles in 2024, are both young enough to defend their titles, as is Lucy Foster in the U20 category. Jonas Stafford, who made the U20 team three years in a row, moves up to what could be a very competitive men’s U23 category.

There have been nine different winners of the Senior men’s title in the past nine editions, Among those trying to make that 10 different winners in a row is Nick Griggs, an U23 in search of his first National senior title on any surfaces. The 2023 champions Cormac and Fiona Everard are others likely to be in contention in the senior races.

Club champions will also be decided, with the top two teams in U20 and Senior categories earning the right to represent Ireland at the European Clubs Cross Country in February.

Other domestic championships, various

Dublin Championships, Leinster and Munster Senior Championships, plus the Connaught Senior League will take place between the Autumn Cross Country and the National Cross Country Championships. The Ulster and Northern Ireland Senior Championships will be held in early February. Athletes with eligibility will also have the opportunity to race Novice and Intermediate championships, the later which will be held alongside the National Masters Championships in February.

European Cross Country Championships, Lagoa (Portugal), 14th December 2025

Having finished 4th in Dublin in 2021 and in Brussels in 2023, could 2025 finally be the year that the current generation of Irish senior men win Euro Cross team medals? Having finished second in both the U20 race (2022) and the U23 race (2024), is it time for Nick Griggs to finally win a European Cross Country title? These are just some of the questions that will be answered in the Algarve on Sunday 14th December.

The European Cross Country Championships is the pinnacle of the cross country season for most of the continent’s athletes. Indeed, for some, it will be their only cross country race of the year. The event has become a happy hunting ground for Irish athletes, and silverware has been brought home every edition since Portugal last hosted the event in 2019.

While Griggs, second in the U23 race, was the only Irish medallist in Antalya two years ago, the U23 men's team finished 4th, with all three scorers young enough to compete again this year, and the U23 women weren't a million miles from a medal either.

It appears that Ireland will send teams in all the individual races. Depending on who is available, there is also the possibility of an Irish mixed relay team. The team will be announced after the final selections are made on 25 November.

World Cross Country Championships, Talahassee FL (USA), 10th January 2026

The World Cross Country Championships will be held in January for the first time. In what seems like an attempt to maintain some interest in World Athletics’ once flagship endurance event, the global event will fall just four weeks after the continental championships.

While the Athletics Ireland selection policy has not yet been published, it’s expected that results at the National Championships in November and the European Championships in December will determine the size and composition of Ireland’s team for Tallahassee.

Eight athletes, including Fiona Everard, Danielle Donegan, Keelan Kilrehill and Hugh Armstrong in the senior races, made the journey to Belgrade for the last edition in 2024. The timing in the calendar, plus the location of the event, may mean enough athletes available to justify full senior teams.

World Cross Country Tour and other international competitions

World Cross Country Tour events take place across Europe - with a few races also in Africa - right throughout the season. Efrem Gidey and Cormac Dalton are among the Irish who have used World Tour events to sharpen up for Euro Cross in recent seasons.

The European Clubs Cross Country Championship will be held in February.

While most of the events fall too close to National and European Championships for Irish athletes, some may appear at the Cardiff Cross Challenge on 8th November and one or two other events across the winter.

A small number of Irish athletes have eligibility to compete in English (and other home nation) championships and the British University (BUCS) Championships, thereby extending their cross country seasons well into the spring.

English National is always worth a watch, especially the start of the Senior Men’s race, which sometimes includes as many as 2000 starters, and the British University championships does its best to replicate the colour and team rivalry of its US equivalent, albeit usually on a muddier course!

There’s plenty to look forward to over the next few months. Expect mud, sweat, tears, and a few surprises.

This weekend is bookended by a Diamond League meet in Rome on Friday and a Continental Tour Gold meeting in Hengelo on Monday, both featuring Irish athletes.

Between those two is a World Race Walking Tour Gold event in Spain, a Leinster Championship with some very strong fields; a busy British Milers Club meeting in Birmingham for the middle distance athletes; distance athletes racing 5000m in Paris; lots of 400m guys and girls in Belgium, and lots more besides.

Rome Diamond League: 1500m starts for Healy and Doyle

After her fabulous 3000m run in Rabat last month, Sarah Healy will be racing her first 1500m of the season at the Rome Diamond League on Friday evening. Healy is in the shape of her life, and it’ll be interesting to see how close she can get to Ciara Mageean’s national record in the coming weeks.

Doyle finished eighth, and was just outside his personal best from the Olympic Games in Paris last year, when he made his Diamond League debut in Rabat, and he’s been rewarded with another start in Rome. While a spot in Tokyo is almost assured given his healthy Road to Tokyo ranking score, the 3:33.00 qualification standard, just 0.15 faster than he’s ever run before, must surely be on his mind.

The Rome Diamond League will be shown live on Virgin Media 3 from 8-10pm on Friday night. The Men’s 1500m is due off at 8:16pm, while the women’s race is at 9:49pm.

Continental Tour Gold comes to Hengelo

After breaking his own Irish 800m record and taking the win at the last European-based Continental Tour Gold meeting a week ago, Mark English is entered for the FBK Games in Hengelo on Monday.

Paralympic medalist Orla Comerford is also due to race in the para-athletics 100m.

All Continental Tour Gold meetings can be viewed in Ireland via the World Athletics platform.

World Racewalking Tour Gold

David Kenny finished 11th in the 20km walk at the recent European Racewalking Team Championships. His time there was his second fastest ever, and he'll be hoping to go close to his 2022 PB of 1:19:44 when he takes to the streets of La Coruna on Saturday.

Matthew Glennon and Ciara Wilson-Bowen are entered for 10km races which are run alongside the highly competitive 20km events.

Continental Tour bronze and challenger meetings and other events abroad

Darragh McElhinney, Oisín Ó Gailín (5000m), Emma McEvoy, Danielle Donegan, Fiona Everard and Aoife O'Cuill are all on the startlist for the FAST5000, a series of track 5000m races in Fance on Saturday.

Several Irish athletes are entered for the British Milers Club meeting at University of Birmingham on Saturday evening, including Roisin Flanagan in the 1500m, and seven Irish athletes in the women’s 3000m steeplechase. Many athletes will be seaking European U20 and U23 qualification standards.

Victoria Amiadamen will race the 400m hurdles at the Meeting International de Limoges in France on Saturday, while Margaret Hayden is on the startlist at a hammer meeting in Germany on Sunday.

The FC Putbos Memorial Buyle in Oordegem (Belgium) has several Irish sprinters on the startlist.

Leinster Senior, U20 and Masters Championships

There is a bumper entry for the Leinster Championships, which will be held at SETU Carlow on Saturday and Sunday. While not all those on the entries will compete, there should still be a competitive men's 100m, where Sean Aigboboh, Paul Costelloe, Max O'Reilly, Michael Farrelly and Marcus Lawler are among the entries and the men's discus where the top three athletes in the country (Eoin Sheridan, Michael Healy and Padrig Hore) are all entered. Other standout athletes listed include Nichola Tuthill, Molly Scott, Saragh Buggy and Sarah Leahy.

Also...

We have listed several other Continental Tour meetings on our calendar page, most of which have livestreams, and we are awaiting some startlists for events on Sunday. 

And don't expect next week to look any quieter. Rhadisat Adeleke will race the 400m at the Oslo Diamond League on Wednesday, seven Irish athletes will compete at the NCAA Div 1 Nationals, and Cillín Greene, Nicola Tuthill and Ava O'Connor will compete in Finland, all before we get anywhere near a weekend.