Rono, Rotich facing herculean tasks in penultimate Gold Tour race
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Reading Time: 3min | Fri. 31.01.25. | 07:00
The entries for the women’s race are led by Francine Niyomukunzi, runner-up in Albufeira last year
Fresh from a third-place finish at last weekend's Cross Cup de Hannut, Kenya's Gideon Rono will be looking to carry that momentum as he competes at the Cross Internacional das Amendoeiras em Flor, the penultimate Gold event in this season’s World Athletics Cross Country Tour, in Albufeira on Sunday, 2 January.
His third place in Hannut, Belgium, came just a week after bagging silver at the International La Mandria Cross, Parco Della Mandria, Venaria Reale, in Italy.
He is joined on the start line in the Portugal event on Sunday by compatriot Charles Rotich, sixth in the U20 race at last year’s World Cross Country Championships.
Thierry Ndikumwenayo, Oscar Chelimo, and Rodrigue Kwizera are the top three entrants, expected to give the Kenyan duo stiff competition.
Ndikumwenayo, racing for his Spanish club Playas de Castellon, defends his title. The Olympic finalist claimed a narrow victory in the Portuguese coastal city 12 months ago as he held off Uganda’s Chelimo and Kwizera of Burundi.
Ndikumwenayo went on to place ninth at the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade—matching the position he achieved for the first time in 2019—before he claimed European bronze medals on the track in the 10,000m and at cross country either side of competing at the Olympic Games.
His Playas de Castellon teammate Kwizera starts the race on top of the World Cross Country Tour standings thanks to his wins last year in Amorebieta-Etxano, Atapuerca, and Soria. He started 2025 with a runner-up finish in Elgoibar and will be hoping for another strong performance in Albufeira, where he has twice won in the past.
Chelimo, meanwhile, will be running for Italian team Atletica Casone Noceto, and the 2022 world 5000m bronze medalist will want to go one better than his runner-up finish last year.
He was also second in both Atapuerca and Amorebieta-Etxano in October after racing at the Olympics, and he opened his year with a third-place finish in San Giorgio su Legnano.
Also looking to challenge the trio will be Burundi’s Egide Ntakarutimana, currently in the top 10 on the World Cross Country Tour standings.
The entries for the women’s race are led by Francine Niyomukunzi, runner-up in Albufeira last year. Likina Amebaw, who secured victory here last year, is not returning to defend her title.
The Burundian will look to build on her third-place finish in Elgoibar at the start of the month. The double Olympic finalist also made the podium in her final three races of 2024—in Amorebieta-Etxano, where she won, plus in Atapuerca and Soria.
Kenya’s Sheila Jebet, who won at the Cross Cup de Hannut at the weekend, is entered for the mixed relay, which is also set to feature Uganda’s Tokyo Olympic 1500m finalist Winnie Nanyondo, Romania’s European indoor 1500m silver medalist Claudia Bobocea, and Portuguese 1500m record-holder Isaac Nader.
Additionally reporting by World Athletics
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