Eyes on Kipsang, Jebet as World Cross Country Tour Gold heads to Cardiff
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Reading Time: 3min | Sat. 08.11.25. | 14:00
European U20 cross country champion Innes FitzGerald headlines the U20 races, joined by William Rabjohns who was an U20 winner here last year
Two World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meetings take place this weekend, the Cardiff Cross Challenge on Saturday, 8 and the Cross Internacional de Italica in Santiponce on the outskirts of Seville on Sunday 9.
The Cardiff event will welcome athletes from Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, Morocco and Spain to Llandaff Fields.
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The men’s race in Cardiff is headlined by world 5000m finalist Mathew Kipsang and his Kenyan compatriot Stephen Kimutai, who returns to the Welsh capital after finishing fifth at the Oysho Cardiff Half Marathon in October in 1:01:32.
Victor Kimosop is another promising young Kenyan athlete in action after he won the Athletics Kenya Cross Country Series meeting last month.
They will be joined by Morocco’s 17-year-old Osama Er Redouani, who was seventh at last year’s World U20 Championships over 3000m and competed at the 2024 World Cross Country Championships.
Ethiopia’s Kadar Omar is a regular racer in South Wales and is a previous winner of the Cardiff Half Marathon, while Jesse Fokkenrood and Nathan Houwaard will be in action for the Netherlands. Fokkenrood finished 13th in Cardiff last year.
Irish cross-country champion Keelan Kilrehill adds further strength to the field, as does Great Britain’s Zakariya Mahamed who has twice finished runner-up on the course and scored a notable victory at the Northern Ireland International in 2022.
Welsh 5km record-holder Osian Perrin and Dafydd Jones lead Welsh hopes.
Meanwhile, Great Britain’s world 10,000m 10th-place finisher Megan Keith is back in Cardiff looking to regain a title she claimed in 2023. She followed that victory by becoming the European U23 cross country champion in Brussels.
Kate Axford was the leading British finisher last year, placing third, and she also returns, as does Kenya’s 2024 runner-up Sheila Jebet, this time as a winner of the Cross Cup De Hannut, another Cross Country Tour Gold event in January.
Her 17-year-old compatriot Cynthia Chepkirui hopes to take a step towards January’s World Athletics Cross Country Championships Tallahassee 26 when she races in Cardiff.
Their competition will include Canada’s 3000m steeplechase record-holder Ceili McCabe, who won the NCAA indoor 3000m title earlier this year, and Denmark’s Sofia Thogersen, the multiple European age-group track medalist who competes in Cardiff for the third time.
Maria Urena of Spain and Ireland’s Mary Mulhare also form part of the international entry list.
Welsh hopes lie with Cari Hughes, who was fourth last year. Other British entries include Amelia Quirk, Holly Dixon, Poppy Tank, Jess Gibbon and Hannah Irwin.
European U20 cross country champion Innes FitzGerald headlines the U20 races, joined by William Rabjohns who was an U20 winner in Cardiff last year.
