US marathon record holder Deena Kastor may well be best remembered for her feats on the road, but the seeds for her success were unquestionably honed in the white-hot competitive furnace of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
The traditional IAAF World Cross Country Championships pre-event press conference took place at the Palac Hotel in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on Saturday (23).
Last year, it was the men who stood in the 10K spotlight at the Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University in California. Abraham Chebii's memorable win, the fastest ever in a US competition, ended up the year as the season's best, as Mebrahtom Keflizighi toppled a 15-year-old American record in the race.
Preview of USA Cross Country Championships