SPORT
Efrem Gidey wins U20 bronze for Ireland at Euro Cross Country Championships
The 19-year-old moved to Ireland from Eritrea as a refugee two years ago
By Donagh Corby
https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/other- ... e-21052493
8 DEC 2019
Ireland's Efrem Gidey celebrates winning a bronze medal in the Men's U20 race (Image: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy)
A 19-year-old who moved to Ireland as a refugee two years ago has won U20 bronze for Ireland at the Euro Cross Country Championships.
https://www.irishmirror.ie/all-about/eu ... mpionships
Efrem Gidey, who came from Eritrea, finished third on his international debut with a time of 19:01, just seconds behind second place
Ayetullah Aslanhan of Turkey.
Speaking after the race, which was won by
Jakob Ingerbrigtsen of Norway, the Clonliffe Harriers athlete said:
Before I was thinking that I need a top ten place.
But to get a spot in third place, it makes me so happy, I don't believe it and it's just amazing.
Gidey's journey to Ireland involved spending a considerable amount of time in the Calais refugee camp among others.
He has yet to secure an Irish passport, but Athletics Ireland managed to obtain a Schengen Visa which allowed him to travel and compete in Lisbon.
______________
________________________
Yasemin Can wins the senior women's race at the European Cross Country Championships (Getty Images) © Copyright
08 DEC 2019
REPORT LISBON, PORTUGAL
https://www.worldathletics.org/news/rep ... -can-fsiha
Can retains title while Fsiha breaks through at European Cross in Lisbon
It was a day for defending champions at the European Cross Country Championships in Lisbon on Sunday (8), with five of the six individual titles retained by last year’s gold medallists.
Turkey’s
Yasemin Can won her fourth successive title in the senior women’s race with commanding ease, while Sweden’s
Robel Fsiha claimed glory in the senior men’s race.
Anna Moller of Denmark and
Jimmy Gressier again proved peerless in the U23 categories, while Norwegian wunderkind
Jakob Ingebrigtsen won his fourth straight title in the U20 men’s race. The U20 women’s title was won again by Italy’s
Nadia Battocletti.
On an undulating course with very little flat ground, the best track performers nonetheless shone brightest. None more so than Can, who tracked her chief rival
Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal through the first lap of the senior women’s race. But Can soon stamped her supremacy, powering clear well before the halfway mark and running alone to the finish, which she reached in 26:52, 15 seconds clear of Grovdal, who won her first silver medal at this event after four successive bronzes.
The course was hilly but I was ready for it because where I come from it is like that,
said Can.
Sweden’s
Samrawit Mengsteab claimed bronze in 27:43, overtaking two-time champion
Fionnuala McCormack of Ireland and edging her to the podium by two seconds. Great Britain and Northern Ireland won the team title ahead of Ireland and Portugal.
The senior men’s race seemed a wide-open affair and so it proved until the halfway point, with little to separate the leading pack. However the race for gold soon whittled down to three athletes:
Aras Kaya of Turkey, Robel Fsiha of Sweden and
Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy.
Fsiha and Kaya broke clear of Crippa on the penultimate lap, and a vicious injection of pace by Fsiha on the final lap carried him to the finish in splendid isolation. He hit the line in 29:59 to come home 11 seconds clear of Kaya, with Crippa third, a further 11 seconds back.
It was a really good field here, and I was expecting it so I prepared myself by training really hard,
said Fsiha.
My focus was to take gold. I've been working hard on my hill workouts, so I'm pleased with the result.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland won the team title ahead of Belgium and Spain.
Robel Fsiha wins the senior men's race at the European Cross Country Championships (Getty Images)Robel Fsiha wins the senior men's race at the European Cross Country Championships (Getty Images) © Copyright
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics