Can Ndikumwenayo break the European 5K record?

The newly crowned European cross-country champion, Thierry Ndikumwenayo, will light up the upcoming edition of the B100 Cursa dels Nassos with his gold medal. The race will take place this coming Wednesday 31s in Barcelona.

The equation 5K Nassos = Record is well known: since 2021, four world records and one European record have been broken, including the two current marks held by Ethiopian Berihu Aregawi—12:49 in 2021—and Kenyan Beatrice Chebet, with her stratospheric 13:54 from last year’s 2024 edition. However, the proximity of the World Cross Country Championships, to be held on January 10 in far-off Tallahassee, Florida, greatly complicated the presence of the very few athletes capable of breaking an international record. But great organizers are a bit like magicians and manage to attract the best… and in these closing days of the year, Ndikumwenayo has proven to be the best, defeating Frenchman Jimmy Gressier at the European Championships in Lagoa. Gressier arrived there as the reigning world champion over 10000m from Tokyo.

Following his dazzling continental triumph, Ndikumwenayo has put together several high-quality training sessions that place him perfectly on the launchpad to attack his own Spanish 5K road record, the 13:08 he set last April in Herzogenaurach, Germany. To achieve this, he will benefit from the invaluable assistance of his training partner Ciro Martín, who will act as pacemaker. Martín is the current Spanish U23 cross-country champion and returned from Portugal with the European bronze medal in his category. His task will be to guide the Facsa-Playas de Castellón star through the first 2000m; from there on, the ace coached by Lluís Torlà will face an exciting individual time trial that will very likely lead him to break his national record.

At 28 years of age, and at the peak of his powers, Thierry clocked a spectacular 12:47.67 for 5000m on the track last June in Oslo. As a result, the possibility is in the air that the European bronze medallist over 10,000 meters will not be satisfied with merely breaking the Spanish record and will instead set his predatory, feline gaze on the 12:57 European record held by Gressier since last March in Lille. Having just beaten him head-to-head, why wouldn’t he improve on that record on the 31st at 4:20 p.m.? The answer to the riddle may come a little before 4:33 p.m.

His most accomplished rival will be Narve Gilje Nordås, the 27-year-old Norwegian with an outstanding pedigree. Owner of an impressive 3:29.47 in the 1500m, he won the bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest and finished 7th at the Paris Olympic Games. Nordås also boasts a personal best of 13:04.85 over 5000m achieved on Boston’s indoor track earlier this year. His most recent outing came in Lagoa at the Portuguese Cross Country Championships, where he competed out of competition with a solid performance, although he will need to raise his level to challenge the Spanish 10000m record holder.

Spain’s best hope will be Abdessamad Oukhelfen, who produced his finest international performance in Lagoa with an excellent 6th place, contributing to Spain’s team gold there. The athlete coached by María Carbó is a regular at the Nassos 5K, with Wednesday marking his fourth consecutive appearance. He aims to break the ceiling he set in 2023 with a third-place finish and a personal best of 13:27. Also arriving in good form is 20-year-old Dane Joel Ibler Lillesø, the European U23 10000m champion crowned last summer in Bergen, who narrowly missed the medals—4th place—in Lagoa in his category. Watch out too for Portugal’s José Carlos Pinto, a 3:31.94 1500m specialist; he won in style the National XC championships in Lagoa but failed to finish at the Europeans while Norway’s Magnus Tuv Myhre, the European cross country silver medallist in Brussels 2023 improved his 5000m lifetime best to 13:06.98 last summer.

Amebaw-Guillemot showdown?

In the women’s field, Ethiopian Likina Amebaw stands out as the marquee athlete. A true long-distance all-rounder, with impressive times ranging from 3000m (8:24.29) to the half marathon (1:04:44 to win in Copenhagen last September), the Peguerinos-based (Ávila) star recently tasted victory in the cross-country races of Amorebieta and Soria, and finished third in Itálica, before taking a competitive break to carefully prepare for this event. Amebaw’s best 5K mark is 14:33, set in Monaco in February, two months before lowering her 5000m personal best to 14:30.54 in Xiamen. If the athlete coached by Alberto García approaches her best form, it will be tough to deny her victory.

Her most dangerous rival should be France’s Agathe Guillemot. The author of a spectacular 3:56.69 in the 1500m, the reigning European indoor champion at that distance and 9th place finisher at the Paris Olympics, she has shown a strong adaptation to longer distances. In Lagoa, she ran among the top ten before fading in the final stages of the 7.4 km race, finishing 11th at the European Championships. What seems beyond doubt is that Guillemot will significantly improve on the 15:31 she clocked in last year’s edition.

Keep an eye as well on the very young Kenyan duo of Sheila Chepngeno and Caren Chepchirchir Serem. Though they do not yet boast remarkable personal bests, their nationality alone commands respect, and they could well force their way onto the prestigious Nassos podium. It will also be especially interesting to see how Jemma Reekie, the British world indoor 800m silver medallist, adapts to the distance, although her 3:58.65 over 1500m gives her a generous margin to perform at a high level over 5K while Denmark’s Sofia Thogersen, a double (1500/3000) European U20 medallist in 2023, might also be a factor given her 15:21 career best set in Lille last March.