World cross country champs 2023: international athletes, Australians to watch in Bathurst races
Athletics great Steve Moneghetti says competitors will be “knackered’’ at the end and encounter plenty of argy-bargy during the world cross country titles. So who will cope best?
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Australian athletics legend Steve Moneghetti said athletes will be “knackered’’ at the end and encounter plenty of argy bargy during the world cross country championships in Bathurst this weekend but there are some athletes who will revel on the challenging course.
The four-time Olympian, still the top placed male in the event for Australia with his fourth in 1989, said the colourful, challenging and very “Australiana’’ course will win over a new legion of fans to a sport he describes as like a “Melbourne Cup for humans’’.
“It’s crazy, hectic, a bit like a Tour de France for fans where you get to see the runners just inches away,” he said of the Bathurst course at Mount Panorama in regional NSW.
“You will hear the feet hitting the dust, the breathing.
“We tried to bring Australiana to the course We have a little dam, a little sand like Bondi Beach, there is toughness because it’s quite hilly and uphill at the start, there are a couple of technical turns.
“It’s quite up and down which is unusual so it’s hard get into a rhythm and there will be a bit of argby bargy due to the turns.
“If you watch world cross country it's a race like no other. It’s like a Melbourne Cup for human beings. It’s a real spectacle.’’
The best in the world are flying to Australia for the championships including defending champion Joshua Cheptegei and fellow Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo who will take on multiple winner Geoffrey Kamworor from Kenya in a highly anticipated battle.
World 10,000m champion and two-time U20 winner Letesenbet Gidey from Ethiopia is chasing her first senior world cross-country with Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet and Eritrea’s Rahel Daniel also big names racing.
World U20 champions Medina Eisa of Ethiopia, Faith Cherotich and Reynold Cheruiyot of Kenya headline the U20 race fields.
Moneghetti, an Athletics Australia board member and on the Bathurst organising committee, made his cross country debut in 1985 and competed for Australia 11 times in the 80s, 90s and 2000s.
His fourth in 1989 was just three seconds off bronze and was one of his two top 10 placings.
Benita Willis is our only individual gold medallist with her win back in 2004.
Australia is fielding a team of 28 athletes in individual races and the 2km mixed relay at the event with Bathurst the 39th world cross country championships the host nation has competed in.
Victoria has 10 representatives, NSW nine, Queensland four, South Australia three and Western Australia and Tasmania one each.
Our most experienced athletes at this level is Brett Robinson with six campaigns followed by Stuart McSwain with four and Leanne Pompeani with three.
Australia also has seven athletes who competed at the 2019 event in Abbey Caldwell, Jack Rayner, Robinson, McSweyn, Matthew Ramsden, Caitlin Adams, and Pompeani.
And while there will be plenty of limelight on the Australian team, it is other nations, including Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia who Moneghetti believes will dominate the 10km racing with our mixed relay team considered a medal prospect.
Moneghetti likes Kenya in the men and Ethiopia in the women’s race and “the same, Kenya and Ethiopa, in the juniors racing.’’
ATHLETES OF INTEREST AT BATHURST WORLD CROSS COUNTRY
JOSHUA CHEPTEGEI UGANDA
The brilliant Cheptegei is the defending champion in the men’s 10km and a two-time winner in the sport.
He is also the Olympic 5000m champion and the world 5000m and 10,000 record-holder,
The Ugandan star is well known in Australia after winning two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
JACOB KIPLIMO UGANDA
A superstar of cross country running who has made the journey to Bathurst to compete.
Kiplimo was a silver medallist at the last world cross country in 2019.
He was also the world junior champion in 2017 and the 2020 world half-marathon champion.
He won a bronze at the Olympics and world titles in the 10,000m and a gold in the 5000m and 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year.
GEOFFREY KAMWOROR KENYA
Another great of the sport.
Kamworor raced off with the bronze medal in 2019. He also won the title in both 2015 and 2017 and was the junior titleholder in 2011.
He is also a three-time world half marathon champion and multiple New York Marathon winner who is on the comeback from injury.
SELEMON BAREGA ETHIOPIA
Barega is an Olympic champion who finished 5th at the last world cross country championships.
The Tokyo Olympic 10,000m champion is also the current world indoor champion over 3000m.
He also won a world silver medallist in the 5000m in 2-019 is know for his brilliant kick if in position late.
BEROHU AREGAWI, ETHIOPIA
The Ethiopian has a strong pedigree.
He won the 2022 Diamond League final over 5000m and finished just off the medal podium at the Tokyo Olympic in the 10,000m.
A former silver medallist at the Youth Olympics, he set a world record in the 5km at the Cursa dels Nassos 5K in Barcelona in 2021 a time of 12 Min, 49 secs, improving previous mark of Joshua Cheptegei by two seconds.
TADESE WORKU, ETHIOPIA
Worku won the world under 20 3000m championships in 2021.
The 21-year-old long distance runner finished with a silver medal in the U20 world cross country championships in 2019.
EMMANUEL WANYONJI, KENYA
The Kenyan middle-distance gun specialises in the 800m but will race the mixed relay in Bathurst.
Last year, at just 18, he finished fourth in the 800m at the World Athletics Championships. Wanyonyi won the gold medal at the 2021 World Under-20 championships.
JACK RAYNER, AUSTRALIA
Jack Rayner comes into the Bathurst worlds with a selection trial win under his belt and as a bit of a dark horse.
He is the Australian 10,000m record holder and finished eighth in the 5000m at the Commonwealth Games.
He has also competed in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics and is one to watch now and in the future.
EMMANUEL AND HILLARY BOR, USA
The US has brothers racing in 500m and 10,00m gun star Emmanuel and steeplechaser and cross country runner Hillary Bor.
The Kenyan Kenyan born brothers are big names in the sport and members of the Kalenjin tribe which is known for top runners.
They competed together at the Tokyo Olympics.
OLLIE HOARE, AUSTRALIA
Ollie Hoare is competing in the mixed relay where Australia are considered a medal prospect.
He is the Commonwealth Games 1500m champion and one of the fastest men ever to run a mile after shattered the Australian record in Norway.
He ran 3.47:48 when second in the Oslo Mile – beaten only by Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebritsen.
LETESENBET GIDEY, ETHIOPIA
Letesenbet Gidey is the world 10,000m champion and world record-holder over 5000m, 10,000m and half-marathon.
She is also an Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist who won bronze at the last cross country titles. She is also a former two-time junior champion and arguably the greatest female distance runner in the world today.
BEATRICE CHEPKOECH
The Kenyan is another star who has made the trip to Australia to race.
She is the 2019 World 3000m steeplechase champion and is also a world record-holder.
JESSICA HULL, AUSTRALIA
Hull, who hailed from Albion Park south of Sydney, is competing in the mixed relay team considered Australia’s best chance of a medal.
Hull, who competed for Australia at the Tokyo Olympics, finished second in the trials after leading for most of the event and was awarded a discretionary spot.
EMMA COBURN, USA
Emma Coburn from the USA is competing in the mixed relay.
She is the 2017 World 3000m steeplechase champion.
She also won silver and the 2019 event and bronze at the Rio Olympics.
ROSE DAVIES, AUSTRALIA
The Newcastle athlete is also making her debut and is the current Zatopek champion.
She ran the 5000mr at both the world champs and Commonwealth Games in 2022 and also competed at the Tokyo Olympics.
She earned an early selection by winning the 10km selection trials.
HEATHER MACLEAN, USA
This USA team member is competing in the mixed relay.
She is the 2022 North and Central American (NACAC) 1500m champion.
LEANNE POMPEANI, NSW
Hails from Bankstown Sports and finished second to Rose Davies in the trials.
She competed at both the 2015 and 2019 world championships.
She’s also a Zatopek winner, finished first in the City to Surf and last year also finished second in the Australian cross country championships.
ANJELINA LOHALITH, ATHLETE REFUGEE TEAM
Lohalith, who fled from South Sudan and now lives in Kenya, is a member of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.
She competed in Rio in 2016 and at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.,
She won the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in Castellon - her first international win and the first by a t member of the Refugee Olympic Team.
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