FitzGerald and Bailey finish top Europeans in Belgrade

Brits Innes FitzGerald and Jess Bailey take top 20 places in the under-20 women’s race at the World Cross as Marta Alemayo, just 15, wins gold for Ethiopia

Innes FitzGerald arrived at her first World Cross Country Championships eager to test herself for the first time against east Africa’s finest teenage runners. In brutal conditions the 17-year-old Brit was found wanting as she struggled to keep up with the leaders and faded to 17^th, just ahead of team-mate Jess Bailey. She knows what she has to do now, though, if she wants to compete with the best at the World Under-20 Championships in Peru this summer.

Those potential rivals on the track in a few months’ time could include Marta Alemayo of Ethiopia who, remarkably, is still only 15. In Belgrade on Saturday (March 30) she defied those tender years by leading an Ethiopian sweep of the medals ahead of Asayech Ayichew and Robe Dida. It was one of the most remarkably stories of an action-packed day in the Park of Friendship.

FitzGerald missed last year’s World Cross in Australia because the ec0-friendly athlete felt she could not justify the long haul flight from the UK to get there. This winter she has never seemed quite sure whether she would tackle this year’s event in the Serbian capital, but ultimately she flew to the event rather than endure a near-impossible journey by train. “The main thing is that I got here,” she said, clearly relishing her first global event.

She lined up in the first race of the day wearing sunglasses, with Paula Radcliffe, a former world junior and senior world cross-country champion, symbolically sitting only a few metres away commentating with Tim Hutchings, another world cross-country medallist, on the races. From the start she committed herself, trying to stay with a large group of Ethiopians, Kenyans and Ugandans. But gradually she fell off the back of the pack and began to struggle in the heat.

For much of the race FitzGerald remained the leading non-African, but Ellie Shea and Allie Zealand of the United States passed her in the closing stages to finish 15^th and 16^th respectively.

Enjoying the race of her life, Bailey had a terrific second half of the race to end up hot on FitzGerald’s heels – just two seconds behind her team-mate in 18^th as the duo finished the first Europeans home.

Eliza Nicholson in 25th and Natasha Phillips in 30^th followed as the British team finished a gallant fifth. Phillips is already at university but FitzGerald and Bailey still have A-level exams coming up soon, whereas Nicholson is a year younger. Roll on, Tallahassee – the venue of the 2026 championships.

The gulf between the top Americans and Europeans and the east Africans is stark, though. After Alemayo crossed the line, more than a minute and a half passed before FitzGerald and Bailey finished, although you can be fairly sure the Brits are being nurtured gradually and carefully by their coaches.

FitzGerald said: “I came in with limited expectations but wanted to finish first European if I could. I managed to do that but the conditions out there were just so brutal.

“My chest got dry. But I’m pleased with it. I think I had a good run. First time against the world. There are so many things I can improve on. But for now it’s just about seeing what I can do and having fun.”

Bailey won the world mountain running title in Chiang Mai in 2022, so this flat and fast course was not to her liking. Not in theory anyway.

The 17-year-old ripped up the form book, though, to have maybe the best run of her life. She is putting the mountain running behind her as well to focus on the track.

“This was probably one of the best races I’ve ever done,” said Bailey. “In Brussels (Euro Cross) I went out too fast and felt great early on but by the last lap I was like a walking zombie, so I was improve on that performance.”

BBC’s last-minute announcement to say it was covering the meeting on its digital platforms was well received by fans. Bizarrely they did not show the under-20 races, though.

This meant it was also tricky to see the under-20 men’s event which saw Samuel Kibathi of Kenya win a sprint finish as the lead Briton was Quinn Miell-Ingram in 31^st.

Only fifth in the UK Inter-Counties and trials, Miell-Ingram has been coached by his mother since the Covid lockdowns. He comes from a family of runners as his mum runs and he has a brother doing London Marathon in three weeks.

James Dargan didn’t have such a good run, though. He was the leading Brit early in the race but faded to finish 47th.

Henry Dover was also disappointed with finishing 62^nd and, like Dargan, he simply said it had been a long season. Dover goes warm-weather training soon before attacking some track times.

There was good news for Craig Shennan, however, as he came home in 35^th – a pleasing effort.

The Scottish runner endured and enjoyed a tough race but he said he was buoyed by the support from the East Kilbride Tartan Army – the hardcore kilt-wearing fans who have been to every World Cross since 1999.

READ MORE: World Cross 2024 news

At the sharp end, it was a familiar story with Kenyans and Ethiopians filling the top 10 places. It was a great duel, however, with Kibathi going neck and neck with Mezgebu Sime of Ethiopia in the closing stages before holding on to win by a second as Matthew Kipruto was third, helping Kenya take team gold.

Tomoya Inque of Japan was first non-African in 16^th as Gaston Rohmer of France finished first European in 21^st.

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