Kenya&rsquo;s Edwin Kurgat and USA&rsquo;s Alicia Monson were victorious at the Fitnessbank Cross Champs &ndash; the only Gold stop on US soil in the current World Athletics Cross Country Tour &ndash; in Austin on Thursday (1).
Kurgat took the lead with little about 2km to go in the men&rsquo;s 8km race and went on to win by two seconds from Yared Nuguse. Monson, meanwhile, made her mark much earlier in the women&rsquo;s contest and eventually finished six seconds ahead of runner-up Emily Infeld.
Commonwealth 1500m champion Oliver Hoare set off with clear intent and opened up a significant lead on the rest of the field in the men&rsquo;s race. The Australian had a six-second lead at the end of the first mile and it grew to nine seconds after mile two. Joe Klecker led a nine-man chase pack which also included Kurgat, Nuguse, Kenya&rsquo;s Wesley Kiptoo, Australia&rsquo;s Morgan McDonald and New Zealand&rsquo;s George Beamish.
Hoare continued the lead at the end of the third mile, but Kiptoo and Kurgat &ndash; former teammates at Iowa State &ndash; were within one second of him, while Nuguse was a few strides further back in fourth. With 14:25 on the clock, Kiptoo took command of the race and Hoare soon found himself in third place behind the Kenyan duo. By the time the leaders completed the penultimate circuit &ndash; with each lap incorporating about 350 metres of the athletics track at St Stephen&rsquo;s School &ndash; it was Kurgat who led from Kiptoo with Hoare now fighting to hold off Nuguse.
Kurgat, the 2019 NCAA cross-country champion, made his break at the start of the final lap and opened up a clear gap on his pursuers. Kiptoo slipped back while Hoare briefly moved into second place, only to be overtaken by Nuguse.
Kiptoo went on to win comfortably in 23:28 with Nuguse taking second place (23:31) and Hoare third (23:33).
&ldquo;I have four years&rsquo; experience of running cross country in college and I know that no matter what distance someone has in the early stages, it&rsquo;s still cross country; it&rsquo;s still hard and it never goes away,&rdquo; said Kurgat. &ldquo;This was a fun course for me and I&rsquo;m really happy to have won.&rdquo;
The women&rsquo;s race fast became a three-way contest between Monson, Infeld and Ednah Kurgat with the trio making a clear break in the first mile, which was covered in 5:24. They wound up the pace over the next two miles, covering them in 5:23 and 5:11 respectively, and by the time they set out on the final lap, they had a 10-second lead over Fiona O&rsquo;Keeffe in fourth place.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63896ba7b96a8c823f0469a0.jpg" alt="Eventual winner Alicia Monson in action at the Cross Champs in Austin" />
Eventual winner Alicia Monson in action at the Cross Champs in Austin (&copy; Kevin Morris)
</div>
Kurgat started to fade once they emerged from one of the wooded areas, but Infeld, the 2015 world 10,000m bronze medallist, did all she could to stick with Monson.
As soon as the track came into view at the end of the final lap, Monson made a decisive move and opened up a gap on Infeld, kicking away to win in 26:56. Infeld held on to second place in 27:02 with Kurgat taking third, some eight seconds further back.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really know what to expect here because we&rsquo;ve just been doing a lot of base building in training, so I just went out and worked hard and closed when I needed to,&rdquo; said Monson, who set PBs of 8:26.81 for 3000m and 14:31.11 for 5000m earlier this year. &ldquo;Running track all year can be kind of hard on the body, so doing cross country is really fun because you&rsquo;re not focused on times. And it&rsquo;s not often you get a chance to race an elite cross-country meet like this in the States.&rdquo;
<h3>Leading results</h3>
Women (8km) 1 Alicia Monson (USA) 26:56 2 Emily Infeld (USA) 27:02 3 Ednah Kurgat (USA) 27:10 4 Fiona O&rsquo;Keeffe (USA) 27:20 5 Jessie Cardin (USA) 27:35 6 Courtney Wayment (USA) 27:36 7 Taylor Werner (USA) 27:45 8 Natosha Rogers (USA) 27:52 9 Sintayehu Vissa (ITA) 27:52 10 Allie Buchalski (USA) 27:53
Men (8km) 1 Edwin Kurgat (KEN) 23:28 2 Yared Nuguse (USA) 23:31 3 Oliver Hoare (AUS) 23:33 4 Morgan McDonald (AUS) 23:43 5 George Beamish (NZL) 23:43 6 Wesley Kiptoo (KEN) 23:45 7 Olin Hacker (USA) 23:47 8 Joe Klecker (USA) 23:48 9 Mario Garcia (ESP) 23:56 10 Andrew Colley (USA) 23:57

Action from the only Gold stop on US soil in the current World Athletics Cross Country Tour

Kurgat and Monson convincing winners in Austin

World record-holder and double Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge and world champion Gotytom Gebreslase will make their Boston Marathon debuts on 17 April 2023, joining six former winners of the World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race.
Defending champion Evans Chebet, 2021 winner Benson Kipruto, and two-time victor Lelisa Desisa will be part of a historically deep men&rsquo;s elite race. Among the returning champions in the women&rsquo;s field are Edna Kiplagat, Atsede Baysa and Desiree Linden.
As the fastest marathon runner in history, Kipchoge will take on the challenging Boston Marathon course with hopes of earning his 11th win in an Abbott World Marathon Majors event. Kipchoge&rsquo;s last marathon resulted in a world record of 2:01:09 at the Berlin Marathon.
&ldquo;I am happy to announce in April I will compete in the Boston Marathon, a new chapter in my Abbott World Marathon Majors journey,&rdquo; said Kipchoge. &ldquo;Good luck to all the runners running Boston in 2023.&rdquo;
Chebet stormed to a 2:06:51 win at the Boston Marathon earlier this year then ran to victory at the New York City Marathon in November. In 2022, Chebet became just the sixth man in history to win the Boston and New York City Marathons in the same year.
&ldquo;To be a champion in Boston is something very special and for me it has even more meaning because it took me quite some time during my career to be competitive enough to finally win the oldest marathon in the world,&rdquo; said Chebet. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t wait to be back and to enjoy the great atmosphere of such a unique and historical race!&rdquo;
Kipruto, a training partner of Chebet, also returns. Almost exactly one year after winning the 2021 Boston Marathon, he won the Chicago Marathon in a PB of 2:04:24.
Desisa enters Boston with vital experience, having placed in the top two four times at the Boston Marathon (wins in 2013 and 2015 and second-place finishes in 2016 and 2019). April marks the 10-year anniversary of his first victory, one in which he donated his champion&rsquo;s medal back to the City of Boston in recognition of the tragedy of 15 April 2013.
While this will be Gebreslase&rsquo;s first Boston Marathon, it is far from her first time racing in Boston. The Ethiopian world champion has finished runner-up at the Boston Half Marathon twice and has placed in the top five three times at the Boston 5K. Along with winning the world title, Gebreslase placed third at both the Berlin Marathon and New York City Marathons this year.
&ldquo;I am very happy to compete in the Boston Marathon 2023, as Boston is one of the most famous&nbsp;races in the world,&rdquo; said Gebreslase. &ldquo;It has long been a dream of mine to win the race. When I was a young track athlete, I raced many times in Boston in indoor races and then on the roads, so I am very excited and happy to bring my career full circle and come back to Boston now as the world&nbsp;champion.&rdquo;
Kiplagat, a two-time world champion, is still highly competitive at the age of 43. She finished fourth at this year&rsquo;s Boston Marathon in 2:21:40 &ndash; 12 seconds faster than her winning time in Boston in 2017.
Baysa, the 2016 Boston Marathon winner, also returns. Also a past winner in Chicago and Paris, Baysa finished eighth at the 2021 Boston Marathon. Linden, the winner in 2018, will be racing in her 10th Boston Marathon.
The complete elite field &ndash; including additional Boston Marathon champions, Abbott World Marathon Majors winners and global medallists &ndash; will be announced in the coming months.
Organisers for World Athletics

World record-holder and double Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge will make his Boston Marathon debut

Kipchoge, Gebreslase and Chebet confirmed for Boston Marathon

Martin Rickett&rsquo;s shot of a fall at the water jump during the women's 3000m steeplechase at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 has been selected as the World Athletics Photograph of the Year.
The fourth award announced as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022, the World Athletics Photograph of the Year shines a spotlight on some of the outstanding images captured by professional photographers.
From the 110 images that were submitted, the panel of judges &ndash; comprising Valerie Adams, Raquel Cavaco Nunes, Ivo Gonzalez, Renaud Lavillenie and Pascal Rondeau &ndash; narrowed the entries to <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/awards/news/world-athletics-photograph-year-2022-shortlisted-images" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26 shortlisted images</a> and <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/awards/news/2022-world-athletics-photograph-finalists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three finalists</a> before deciding on the winner.
Rickett&rsquo;s photograph captures Germany's Lea Meyer falling headfirst into the water while competing in the heats on day two of the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field.
It was taken using a remote camera placed two hours before the start of the session.
&ldquo;I could see in the background that somebody had fallen, so I pressed the remote to trigger the camera, but didn&rsquo;t know if the camera had actually fired,&rdquo; explained Rickett, shooting for PA Media. &ldquo;I then had to wait until the end of the session to retrieve the camera and that was a very nervous walk, to see how the images had turned out.
&ldquo;Thank you to World Athletics for putting on this competition. It&rsquo;s great that athletics specialist photographers have their work showcased around the world."
Although somewhat frustrated to have fallen at the World Championships, Meyer, the athlete in the picture, says the moment was a symbolic one of her season.
"When I tripped over the barrier, it was a bit of a wake-up call," she said. "It showed me that, even when I'm in good shape, I still have to make sure I concentrate and have to be 100% focused during the race. I still finished the race, and my time wasn't even that slow. Ultimately that provided me with the confidence that if everything does come together and I am fully focused, I can deliver when it matters. And that&rsquo;s exactly what happened a few weeks later at the European Championships in Munich (where she won the silver medal).
"While it may not have been the best moment for me personally, the photo itself is incredible," she added. "And in hindsight the photo in a way encapsulates how my whole season turned out. 2022 has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs for me, and it illustrates how every time I do fall &ndash; literally or figuratively speaking &ndash; I always get back up."
Rickett is an award-winning sport photographer based in Manchester, UK. Since joining PA Media in 2001, he has covered multiple Olympic and Commonwealth Games, World Athletics Championships and European Championships, as well as many other sports and events.
Other winners already announced as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022 include Gennadii Zuiev (Coaching Achievement Award), Donna Fraser (Woman of the Year) and the Ukrainian Athletic Association (President&rsquo;s Award). Further announcements will be made in the coming days, ahead of the World Athletes of the Year and Rising Stars being revealed on Monday 5 December.
World Athletics

Martin Rickett’s shot of a fall at the water jump during the steeplechase at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 has been selected as the World Athletics Photograph of the Year

Rickett captures World Athletics Photograph of the Year

The World Athletics Council has made a number of important decisions at its 229th meeting in Rome, to round out a highly successful year for the sport and provide guidance for the coming years.
In his summary of the year, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe noted that the organisation had organised four World Athletics Series events, attended by almost 4000 athletes from 180 countries, who set 354 national records. These events reached a cumulative global TV audience of three quarters of a billion, which extended well over one billion when accounting for the digital audience.
Among other events, the sport staged 162 Continental Tour events where almost 12,000 athletes competed from 159 countries, setting two area records, 118 national records and 2,396 personal bests.&nbsp;
On the road, the tally will be 200 events with almost 3 million people participating and generating a total revenue of $1.7 million, of which $72,000 will be paid to the AIU for their testing programme at the top level marathons.
The World Athletics website had 33 million visitors with over 1 billion hits on the competition statistics database. Our media coverage has reached 10 billion people. Our social media followers grew to 10 million and our fan database grew to 183,000.
The Council reached the following decisions in its two-day meeting in Rome.
<h2>Host of the 2024 World Athletics Relays announced</h2>
The 2024 World Athletics Relays have been awarded to Nassau in The Bahamas.
This event will be held in April/May 2024 (dates to be confirmed) and will be the main Olympic qualifying event for the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s 4x100m and 4x400m relays and the mixed 4x400m relay.
Coe welcomed the decision, saying: &ldquo;We have had three wonderful editions of the World Athletics Relays in Nassau, which established this event on the global calendar, so we know we are in safe hands for what will be an important Olympic qualifier for all our relay events. We are confident that The Bahamas will offer the best conditions for the athletes and a brilliant atmosphere for both athletes and fans as we mark a key milestone on the road to the Paris Olympic Games.&rdquo;
The President of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) Drumeco Archer responded: "We are incredibly excited for the long-awaited homecoming of the World Athletics Relays 2024 and we are grateful to the World Athletics Council for considering The Bahamas as the host city for this all-important event. The BAAA family and stakeholders will be standing at the seashores and airports with the banner of athletics waving high as we welcome the world of athletics and sporting enthusiasts back to our shores.
&ldquo;With a mutual sense of excitement, the Government of The Bahamas is proud to welcome you back to our country, which is widely known as a sporting paradise. Both the Government of The Bahamas and the BAAA intend to make the fourth hosting of this event the most &lsquo;Bahamazing&rsquo; experience of them all!"
<h2>Russia Taskforce report</h2>
World Athletics&rsquo; Russia Taskforce expects to be in a position to make a final recommendation to the World Athletics Council on the reinstatement of the Russian Federation (RusAF) at the next Council Meeting in March 2023, provided RusAF continues to make progress in reforming its culture, Taskforce Chair Rune Andersen told the Council today.
However he acknowledged that RusAF&rsquo;s progress on its reinstatement plan would have no bearing on any Council decision on RusAF&rsquo;s status arising from the war in Ukraine.
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/about-iaaf/documents/member-federation-resource-centre#collapserussian-reinstatement-conditions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In presenting his regular report to the Council</a>, Andersen said that the RusAF leadership team had &ldquo;embedded a new culture of good governance and zero tolerance for doping throughout the organisation&rdquo; under Acting President Irina Privalova.
He noted that RusAF is reporting historic anti-doping rule violations uncovered in the Moscow Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), is delivering anti-doping education for 13,000 young athletes, has developed a test distribution plan that includes more than 2000 domestic tests of Russian athletes per year (most out of competition), and is taking other initiatives, including fining government-funded athletes for any single whereabouts violations.
But Andersen said that widespread and sustainable cultural change would likely take many years to embed and would proceed at different paces in different parts of the system. He expressed concern around the decision of the RUSADA disciplinary commission not to publish its findings in the case of the ice-skater Kamily Valieva.
He said the close monitoring and oversight of RusAF&rsquo;s operations would not end when its suspension from membership of World Athletics was lifted, but this function would be taken over by the Athletics Integrity Unit, which would enforce a detailed set of Post-Reinstatement Conditions, more stringent than those currently imposed on &ldquo;Category A&rdquo; federations (those regarded as most at risk of major doping issues).
These conditions would be finalised with the AIU over the coming months and would be presented to the Council for approval before the Taskforce made its final recommendation on reinstatement.
The Taskforce would also recommend that, to prevent backsliding or interference, any material breach of the Post-Reinstatement Conditions should trigger a Council proposal to Congress to expel RusAF permanently from membership of World Athletics.
<h2>World Athletics Series updates</h2>
In order to continue to support the development of road running, especially the growth of road miles and 5 km road races, the Council agreed to change the current frequency of the biennial World Road Running Championships, making it an annual event. The annual rotation will start in 2025.
The Council also approved the following dates for upcoming World Athletics Series events:
World Athletics Cross Country Championships Medulin/Pula 24: 10-11 February 2024
World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24: 26-31 August 2024
World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25: 13-21 September 2025
<h2>Changes to competition rules</h2>
From 1 January 2023, World Athletics will introduce an official world record for the road mile. Prior to 1 September 2023, official recognition of a world record will require a performance of at least 3:50.00 (men) / 4:19.00 (women). If the listed standards are not met by 1 September, the fastest recorded, record-eligible performances will be recognised as the world records.
<h2>Kenyan Federation status</h2>
The Council discussed the ongoing situation with doping in Kenya in the context of the Athletics Integrity Unit&rsquo;s regular report. It was agreed that the Kenyan Government&rsquo;s commitment to provide an additional $5 million a year for the next five years to strengthen Kenya&rsquo;s anti-doping programmes was an appropriate response to the situation at this time. As Kenya remains a Category A federation under the World Athletics anti-doping rules, the onus remains on Kenyan authorities to work closely with the AIU to ensure these funds are used effectively.
Coe welcomed the measures being taken to address the doping situation in Kenya.
&ldquo;I particularly welcome the additional resource made available by the Government of Kenya in this fight. The only way that we can reduce the scale of this problem is a joint commitment across all the sports stakeholders in Kenya and of course World Athletics and its Athletics integrity unit,&rdquo; Coe said.
<h2>DSD and transgender regulations</h2>
Outside of its formal meeting, the Council also attended a two-hour information session to discuss an ongoing review of the current DSD Regulations and Transgender Regulations. A preferred option for both sets of regulations was presented to the Council members and it was agreed that this option would be considered more widely during a consultation period with member federations, athletes and other stakeholders over the coming months. The results of this consultation and a final recommendation will be presented to the Council for a decision at its March meeting.
&ldquo;As most of you will know, we have always said our regulations in this area, and all areas, are subject to review at any time,&rdquo; said Coe. &ldquo;In terms of these regulations, we will follow the science and the decade and more of the research we have in this area in order to protect the female category, maintain fairness in our competitions and remain as inclusive as possible.&rdquo;
Some additional work is being prepared following the Council information. Once this is complete World Athletics will share its preferred option publicly as part of the consultation process.

Summary of decisions made at the 229th World Athletics Council Meeting in Rome

Decisions made at World Athletics Council Meeting in Rome

The Ukrainian Athletic Association has been awarded the President&rsquo;s Award as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe presented Ukrainian Athletic Association President Yevhen Pronin with the award on Wednesday (30) at the World Athletics Council Meeting in Rome.
&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t think of anyone worthier than this for this year&rsquo;s award,&rdquo; said Coe. &ldquo;What the Ukrainian Athletics Federation President, the coaches, and the athletes have done is just worthy of everyone&rsquo;s respect and recognition.&rdquo;
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, the majority of Ukraine&rsquo;s elite athletes were unable to continue training, let alone competing. But the country&rsquo;s athletes showed remarkable resilience and made the most of any support that came their way &ndash; including the Ukraine Relief Fund, which was launched in April by World Athletics, the International Athletics Foundation and the Diamond League Association.
Ukraine&rsquo;s elite athletes were then able to find alternative training locations in Europe and the rest of the world, and were ultimately able to compete at this year&rsquo;s major international events. Among their many medal successes in 2022, Yaroslava Mahuchikh took high jump gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, while Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk won the European triple jump title.
&ldquo;Our country and our federation are currently at the most difficult stage in our history,&rdquo; said Pronin. &ldquo;However, we understand that sport should not only live, it should develop. It&rsquo;s difficult to develop, but we have planned at least five sports festivals in Ukraine in December. Most of our athletes are based in other parts of Europe at the moment, and we&rsquo;d like to thank World Athletics and European Athletics for helping us. Things are still difficult but we know our target and we know how to achieve it.
&ldquo;Earlier this year our federation had a virtual board meeting and we decided that we wouldn&rsquo;t take part in international competitions in 2022 because we didn&rsquo;t know how our athletes and coaches would be able to travel,&rdquo; explained Pronin. &ldquo;But I then thought about it some more and after three days I felt like our athletes must represent Ukraine across the world, so I went back to our board and asked them to change our decision.
&ldquo;In every championships this year, our athletes have competed for medals, we have shown our flag, and we have heard our national anthem,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;But just as importantly, it has given people from our country an opportunity to talk to international media to let them know what is happening back in Ukraine.&rdquo;
Coe said that he could think of no one more deserving of this year&rsquo;s award than the Ukrainian federation and its athletes.
&ldquo;For the resistance and fortitude that your athletes have shown &ndash; supported by you, your federation and your coaches &ndash; that is why I felt absolutely impelled to present this year&rsquo;s President&rsquo;s Award to you and your federation,&rdquo; said Coe. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just the federation; it&rsquo;s the coaches, the administrators, and the support you had at a governmental level. Really this award is for all of you, but particularly for you, Yevhenii, for the extraordinary effort you&rsquo;ve made to primarily keep the athletes in competition and in training. It has been one of the greatest contributions that anyone has made to our sport in a very long time.&rdquo;
The President's Award, first awarded in 2016, recognises and honours exceptional service to athletics. Past winners of the award include British journalist Vikki Orvice, Swiss meeting director Andreas Brugger, Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt and Kenyan distance great Tegla Loroupe.
World Athletics

The Ukrainian Athletic Association has been awarded the President’s Award as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022.

Ukrainian Athletic Association wins President’s Award

The World Athletics Cross Country Tour heads to Austin, USA, on Thursday (1), when a number of leading athletes will race for individual glory and team triumph at Sound Running's Fitness Bank Cross Champs.
Australia&rsquo;s Oliver Hoare and Pat Tiernan, and USA&rsquo;s Alicia Monson and Emily Infeld are among the entries for the 8km clashes taking place at St. Stephens High School, which welcomes athletes for the eighth Gold level meeting in this season&rsquo;s Cross Country Tour.
The Cross Country Tour forms a key part in the preparation of many athletes who will be targeting the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23 in February and Hoare is among those with their eye on the global event taking place on his home soil.
But first up is Cross Champs, which will see athletes compete on a mainly grass one-mile loop course as part of pro teams and training group squads.
Hoare returns to racing for the first time since the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich, where he placed third in the 1500m. That came at the end of a strong track season that saw the 25-year-old win Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham in a PB of 3:30.12 and break the Oceania mile records both indoors and outdoors.
In Austin he&rsquo;ll be joined by his teammates George Beamish, Mario Garcia Romo, Morgan McDonald, Yared Nuguse and&nbsp;Joe Klecker, who won this year's US 10,000m title and finished ninth at the World Championships.
McDonald won the NCAA cross country title in 2018, while Tiernan claimed it in 2016 and recently stepped up in distance to make his marathon debut in Chicago. After a 16th-place finish there, he&rsquo;ll drop back down to 8km as he races on a team also featuring Patrick Dever, who raced for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus.
Among those challenging them will be last year&rsquo;s runner-up Jamaine Coleman, 2021 NCAA runner up Wesley Kiptoo, Frank Lara, Hillary Bor and Sam Chelanga, third in this year&rsquo;s US Cross Country Championships and 11th in the 2017 World Cross Country Championships. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/638657f3bd042bb884a678fe.jpg" alt="Allie Buchalski on her way to victory at the 2021 Cross Champs" />
Allie Buchalski on her way to victory at the 2021 Cross Champs (&copy; Sound Running)
</div>
In the women&rsquo;s race, Monson lines up as the US cross country champion following her win over 10km in San Diego in January. The 24-year-old went on to win the 3000m at the Millrose Games later that month, her time of 8:31.62 being one of the many PBs she set in 2022, and she raced at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 as well as the Diamond League final.
The 2019 NCAA cross country runner-up will take to the start line in Austin alongside her teammates Carmela Cardama Baez, Sage Hurta and Sintayehu Vissa.
Another of this year&rsquo;s World Championships finalists in action&nbsp;is Infeld, the 2015 world 10,000m bronze medallist who won the 2018 US cross country title and placed third at this year&rsquo;s event. On the global cross country stage, she finished 21st at the 2013 world event in Bydgoszcz.
Allie Buchalski is back to defend her title after her win in Mt SAC 12 months ago and will be joined by her teammate Marta Pen Freitas, while another contender is Natosha Rogers, who was sixth at this year&rsquo;s US cross country championships and went on to race the 10,000m at the World Championships and win the NACAC 5000m title.
Also forming part of the competitive field are US 10-mile champion Fiona O'Keeffe, NCAA 3000m steeplechase champion Courtney Wayment and last year&rsquo;s Cross Champs fourth-place finisher Dani Shanahan. 
<a href="https://www.soundrunning.run/crosschamps" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full entries by team</a>

A number of leading athletes will race for individual glory and team triumph at Sound Running's Fitness Bank Cross Champs

Teams ready to clash at Cross Champs in Austin

Former sprinter Donna Fraser, a champion for gender equality and the empowerment of women in athletics, has been named Woman of the Year as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022.
The two-time world 4x400m medallist and 2000 Olympic 400m fourth-place finisher was a force on the field of play and has shown that same drive and passion in numerous projects off the track.
A World Athletics gender leadership moderator since 2019, Fraser regularly features in the governing body&rsquo;s speaking panels and webinars on the topic, and frequently appears in the media to talk about diversity and inclusion.
She has held roles including equality, diversity and engagement lead at UK Athletics and in 2021 she received an OBE for services to equality, inclusion and diversity in the workplace.
This year she served as head of inclusion and engagement for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, 24 years on from her bronze medal win at the Games in Kuala Lumpur. Fraser has also been a trustee, adviser and board member for many organisations such as the London Marathon Charitable Trust, Women&rsquo;s Sport Trust, British Athletes Commission, International Women&rsquo;s Group and Her Spirit.
&ldquo;Women have different skills to men, and we need that diversity of thought,&rdquo; Fraser said. &ldquo;Our sport is extremely diverse, so that has to be replicated across all levels.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy saying that we want more diversity in our sport, but what pathway is put in place to make sure that that is done? World Athletics has absolutely put its best foot forward to make sure that happens.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m honoured to be part of this (gender leadership) programme. I love making a difference to my peers and seeing women wanting to excel themselves.&rdquo;
The Woman of the Year Award gives recognition to those that have made an outstanding contribution to promoting the advancement of gender equality in athletics.
This year it is the second honour announced as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022. On Monday (28), Gennadii Zuiev was named winner of the <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/awards/news/coaching-achievement-award-2022-gennadii-zuiev" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coaching Achievement Award</a> and further announcements will be made in the coming days, ahead of the World Athletes of the Year and Rising Stars being revealed on Monday 5 December.
World Athletics

Former sprinter Donna Fraser has been named Woman of the Year as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022

Fraser wins Woman of the Year Award

World Athletics is pleased to announce the extension of its partnership with Pinsent Masons as its official supplier of legal services.
The four-year renewal, which will last until the end of 2027, was formally signed today (29) during the World Athletics Council Meeting in Rome, Italy, in an official ceremony attended by World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, along with Pinsent Masons representatives Trevor Watkins and Julian Diaz-Rainey.
Pinsent Masons has been an official supplier to World Athletics and the World Athletics Series (WAS) Events since 2020. During that time, they have provided invaluable legal support to World Athletics, including at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 where they dealt with diverse matters ranging from advising on measures to protect against ambush marketing, queries on trademark issues, advising on the new licensing programme and other commercial matters.
More recently, they have been working on innovative projects including NFTs, and have been providing ongoing training to World Athletics staff and Member Federations on legal issues as well as soft skills development such as negotiating tactics and reading body language.
Coe said: &ldquo;We are very pleased to be extending our partnership with Pinsent Masons for another four years.
&ldquo;As the governing body for the sport of athletics, and with over 200 Member Federations scattered across the world, we need partners with the same global outlook and desire to deliver our sport to its maximum potential. Pinsent Masons is uniquely positioned to assist us with these goals as a global law firm who prioritises innovation and forward-thinking.
&ldquo;From delivering guidance and training on appropriate subjects, to raising the knowledge and skills of our sport&rsquo;s administrators both at our headquarters and around the globe, Pinsent Masons has now become an integral part of the World Athletics family, and we look forward to continuing to work closely together for the benefit of our sport until at least 2027.&rdquo;
Watkins, Head of Sports at Pinsent Masons, said: &ldquo;We are thrilled to be re-appointed to advise World Athletics until the end of 2027. Our work together in partnership is inspirational to our global team. Being able to support World Athletics across every continent and enabling the development of innovative solutions to support the sport is something we are immensely proud of. With shared values, a common desire to strive for high performance and an exciting series of events to look forward to, we are both delighted and appreciate the confidence World Athletics have placed in us by this early extension of our existing partnership.&rdquo;
World Athletics

World Athletics is pleased to announce the extension of its partnership with Pinsent Masons as its official supplier of legal services.

World Athletics extends partnership with Pinsent Masons until 2027

Gennadii Zuiev has been named as the recipient of the Coaching Achievement Award, the first winner to be announced as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022.
Despite the conflict in their home country of Ukraine, Zuiev continued to guide high jumper Andriy Protsenko to world and European medals in 2022, also working with other athletes to overcome the difficulties they faced.
A former national level high jumper himself, Zuiev turned to coaching in 1999 and started working with a 13-year-old Protsenko a few years later. Protsenko was a sprinter at the time, but Zuiev encouraged him to try the high jump and the 34-year-old has gone on to become a multiple world and European medallist, who has a PB of 2.40m.
Protsenko&rsquo;s most recent achievements are the bronze he claimed at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 and the medal of the same colour he won at the European Championships in Munich. 
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 Zuiev and Protsenko both live in the Kherson region of Ukraine and Protsenko spent around five weeks under the Russian occupation in March and April. Improvising with home-made equipment, he was still able to train and their hard work paid off when Protsenko made the podium in Oregon and Munich.
&ldquo;This award is a big surprise for me, but I&rsquo;m really satisfied and I&rsquo;m glad that the work of Andriy and I was highly regarded by World Athletics,&rdquo; said Zuiev.
&ldquo;We tried to keep fit, as we realised that the only thing we could do was to continue our routine job, aiming to prepare for international competitions as best as possible. Certainly, it was crazy difficult. It is difficult to even think about training and competition when there is a war in your own country. These thoughts haunted us constantly.
&ldquo;The world bronze medal is as good as gold for me and Andriy, especially taking into account what he had to overcome on the road to get it.&rdquo;
As well as guiding world-class athletes, Zuiev has delivered a number of seminars for Ukrainian coaches and in 2018 and 2019 he shared his two decades of experience as part of presentations on the topic of &lsquo;long term development of a world class high jumper&rsquo;.
The Coaching Achievement Award is the first of 10 honours celebrated as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022. Further announcements will be made in the coming days, ahead of the World Athletes of the Year and Rising Stars being revealed on Monday 5 December.
World Athletics

Despite the conflict in their home country of Ukraine, Zuiev continued to guide high jumper Andriy Protsenko to world and European medals in 2022

Zuiev receives Coaching Achievement Award

Warner Bros. Discovery has secured the rights to broadcast the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 in&nbsp;more than&nbsp;45 countries across Europe*.
Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed a deal with World Athletics rights-holders Eurovision Sport and ESPN to broadcast next year&rsquo;s nine-day event on its channels &ndash; Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2 and Eurosport App &ndash; including its platform discovery+**- on a non-exclusive basis in more than 45 countries across Europe*.
With world pole vault record-holder Mondo Duplantis, the exciting Jamaican sprint trio of&nbsp;Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce&nbsp;and&nbsp;Shericka Jackson,&nbsp;as well as Olympic 400m hurdles champion&nbsp;Karsten Warholm&nbsp;set to take part at WCH Budapest 23, Warner Bros. Discovery continues its year-round storytelling around some of the greatest events on the planet.
Warner Bros. Discovery Vice President, Sports Rights Acquisitions and Syndication Trojan Paillot, said: &ldquo;We are proud to be a trusted partner to federations across a broad range of sports. Through our Warner Bros. Discovery channels and platforms, we possess an unmatched ability to scale coverage to the widest possible audience through our broad international reach and platform availability, offering more ways for viewers to engage with the sports they love.
&ldquo;Our ambition is to tell the stories around the world&rsquo;s greatest athletes all year round, including their journeys to compete at the biggest events including the World Athletics Championships and the Olympic Games. We are pleased to be able to harness our storytelling ability and comprehensive reach to shine a light on the World Athletics Championships, helping to raise even greater awareness of the sport and its athletes as we build to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.&rdquo;
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m delighted to welcome Warner Bros. Discovery back into the high-powered portfolio of our World Championships broadcast partners. Eurosport has a long tradition of offering outstanding athletics coverage and this agreement will be welcomed by our fans across Europe, as it will give them even more opportunities to watch every amazing moment of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23. I have no doubt that this deal will help us to deliver on our strategy for growing the sport.&rdquo;
The 2023 World Athletics Championships is set to take place at Budapest&rsquo;s new National Athletics Centre between 19-27 August 2023, the first time the event has taken place in central Europe. Eurovision Sport and ESPN jointly hold and distribute World Athletics media rights in Europe and Africa for 2023.
Last month, Warner Bros. Discovery kicked off its road to Olympic Games Paris 2024 programming with the launch of Mon Paris Olympique on Eurosport in France, airing each month right up to the Opening Ceremony in July 2024 featuring a series of French athletes set to take their respective sports by storm at their home Games.
*Agreement excludes Nordics region &ndash; Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden **Streaming is available on discovery+ in Austria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, UK and Ireland

World Athletics Championships, Budapest 2023

Warner Bros. Discovery has secured the rights to broadcast the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 in more than 45 countries across Europe*

Warner Bros. Discovery secures rights to broadcast 2023 World Athletics Championships

Kenya&rsquo;s Lucy Mawia and Burundi&rsquo;s Rodrigue Kwizera captured commanding victories at the 40th Cross Internacional de la Constitucion, the seventh Gold meeting in this season&rsquo;s World Athletics Cross Country Tour, in Alcobendas, Spain, on Sunday (27).
In doing so, both winners improved on their performances last year, when Mawia had to settle for second place and Kwizera crossed the finish line as a clear victor but was later disqualified for not wearing the official vest of his team.
<h2>Mawia is strongest</h2>
On a pleasant (13&deg;C) sunny afternoon, it was Argentina's Maria Luz Tesuri who first took command of the women&rsquo;s 8.04km race, closely followed by a trio of favourites: Mawia, Burundi's Francine Niyomukunzi and Italy's European U23 cross country champion Nadia Battocletti.
Around 2000m into the race, that quartet had built a 10-second lead over the chasing group, headed by Spain's Laura Luengo. Shortly afterwards, the Argentinean began to lose ground as Mawia moved to the front to inject a brisker pace, with Niyomukunzi running at her shoulder and Battocletti always in third.
Just before reaching the fifth kilometre, the Italian could not live with Mawia's relentless pace across the up and down circuit and the event became a two-horse battle between the Kenyan and Niyomukunzi.
The key move came just before the pair entered the closing 2.3km lap, when Mawia broke away. At the bell she travelled a couple of seconds ahead of Niyomukunzi and five seconds clear of Battocletti, while Luengo, who had overtaken Tesuri, was a lonesome fourth, 33 seconds back.
During that final loop the Italian bounced back and easily passed Niyomukunzi, although she never threatened Mawia's win.
At the tape, the Kenyan clocked 27:06 to Battocletti's 27:17, while a fading Niyomukunzi finished 24 seconds behind the winner but also 24 seconds ahead of Luengo in fourth.
&ldquo;I'm quite satisfied with my third win this season. I feel much more comfortable on cross country than on the track,&rdquo; said 23-year-old Mawia, who also claimed recent victories in Bydgoszcz and Soria.
&ldquo;After my European tour of four races, I now return to my country to contest the Kenyan trials for the World Cross Country Championships.&rdquo;
<h2>Another successful day at the office for Kwizera</h2>
In the men&rsquo;s 10.06km race, Spain&rsquo;s world 3000m steeplechase finalist Daniel Arce set the early pace and the 30-year-old led a 15-athlete pack for the first three kilometres. Chilean Carlos Diaz plus Spain's Yahya Aouina and Fernando Carro ran closest to Arce, while the big favourite Kwizera travelled quietly in the middle of the pack.
Diaz and Carro then replaced Arce on pacing duty but the rhythm didn't heat up until Kwizera moved to the front for the first time, the clock reading 14:00.
Once the 22-year-old Burundian began to push, the lead group whittled down progressively and two kilometres later only Spaniards Carro, Aouina, Andreu Blanes and Sergio Paniagua remained close to the Spain-based Kwizera.
At exactly the same point as Mawia chose to pull away from her rivals, a few metres before the bell, Kwizera also took advantage of a downhill section to kick and leave his competition behind.
It was only during the final 2000m that Kwizera seemed to run near his full potential. Blanes, a 7:52.70 3000m indoor athlete, lost ground from the chasing group, led by Aouina from Paniagua and Carro, the Spanish 3000m steeplechase record-holder at 8:05.69.
Kwizera crossed the finish line unopposed in 29:59, while 27-year-old Paniagua, a 3:38.63 1500m specialist, easily got rid of his compatriots to take the runner-up place seven seconds behind the victor but three seconds ahead of Carro. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6383ab0ffe408f0b937d7020.jpeg" alt="Rodrigue Kwizera celebrates his win at the 40th Cross Internacional de la Constitucion Alcobendas" />
Rodrigue Kwizera celebrates his win at the 40th Cross Internacional de la Constitucion Alcobendas (&copy; Asociaci&oacute;n ADOC)
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&ldquo;I wanted to make amends from what happened last year, so my win today makes me happy,&rdquo; said Kwizera.
&ldquo;Tomorrow I'll be travelling for a 25-day training camp in the altitude of Sierra Nevada. My primary goal this winter is the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst where I want to win a medal.&rdquo;
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics 
<h3>Leading results</h3>
Women (8.04km) 1 Lucy Mawia (KEN) 27:06 2 Nadia Battocletti (ITA) 27:17 3 Francine Niyomukunzi (BUR) 27:30 4 Laura Luengo (ESP) 27:54 5 Maria Luz Tesuri (ARG) 28:01 6 Idaira Prieto (ESP) 28:22 7 Muriel Coneo (COL) 28:28 8 Irene Pelayo (ESP) 28:30 9 Lidia Campo (ESP) 28:40 10 Azucena Diaz (ESP) 28:44
Men (10.06km) 1 Rodrigue Kwizera (BDI) 29:58 2 Sergio Paniagua (ESP) 30:05 3 Fernando Carro (ESP) 30:08 4 Yahya Aouina (ESP) 30:09 5 Andreu Blanes (ESP) 30:27 6 Younes Kniya (MAR) 30:28 7 David Bascunana (ESP) 30:28 8 Abderrahman El Khayami (ESP) 30:35 9 Miguel Baidal (ESP) 30:37 10 Alejandro Onis (ESP) 30:40

Lucy Mawia and Rodrigue Kwizera captured commanding victories at the seventh Gold meeting in this season’s World Athletics Cross Country Tour

Mawia and Kwizera confirm supremacy in Alcobendas

Appropriately for someone who investigates earthquakes on Mars as part of a PhD, Nienke Brinkman has had a seismic impact on the marathon event in a short space of time.
Less than a year ago, she did not even feature on World Athletics&rsquo; athlete database, having not contested a road or track race at sufficiently high level. Then, a 2:26:34 marathon in Valencia began an earth-shattering 12 months for the student at the Institute of Geophysics in Zurich, during which time she broke the Dutch record with 2:22:51 and earned bronze at the European Championships.
However, she is keen to dial down media hype which has repeatedly hinted she went from couch potato to European medallist in two years. The 29-year-old says her running success is in part a result of a lifetime of sporting activity, which has included playing second-division field hockey in the Netherlands.
Nonetheless, the magnitude of her rise has been remarkable, given she began focusing on running as recently as 2018.
Born into a sporty family in Indonesia, where her Dutch parents were briefly living, she enjoyed running, but her hockey prowess meant she was pushed more towards that in school in the Netherlands.
&ldquo;I was not able to make the national level [in hockey], but I was not a bad player,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I never related to running as a sport. I actually didn&rsquo;t know it was really a sport until I stopped playing hockey.&rdquo;
She trained for hockey six times per week and ran perhaps as much as 10km during each game. She cycled half an hour each way to training and did one half-hour long running-specific session per week.
&ldquo;I think it was known I was a good runner, that&rsquo;s probably why I was a midfielder,&rdquo; says Brinkman. &ldquo;I could always help out everywhere and I was not tired often. But I never thought about split times or how fast I was actually running.&rdquo;
She emphasises: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like the story that I have been running only two years. Of course it&rsquo;s true for specifically running, but, if you play field hockey, you have to run and I have been doing a lot of sports my entire life. I think I built my base through different sports. It&rsquo;s not like I didn&rsquo;t do any sport at all and, all of a sudden, I&rsquo;m on the top.&rdquo;
When she moved from the Netherlands to continue her studies in Switzerland and found that the sport she grew up with was not popular enough there to be an option, she instead ran, cycled and went to the gym to keep fitness. In the summer of 2019 she finished sixth woman in the hilly, part-trail Zermatt Marathon.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63822c83a863b48823a39688.jpg" alt="Nienke Brinkman on her way to winning the Zegama-Aizkorri mountain marathon" />
Nienke Brinkman on her way to winning the Zegama-Aizkorri mountain marathon (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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Echoing a familiar story, though, she upped her running during the pandemic lockdown spring of 2020 in order to relieve stress. She planned to do the Amsterdam Marathon in October of that year, but Covid restrictions meant she would run it virtually. Accompanied by triathlete and 2:23 marathon runner Benjamin Ueltschi, who would a few months later become her coach, she clocked 2:39.
&ldquo;I think this was the point where I thought, &lsquo;this is very good&rsquo;, and I started to learn about pacing and all the things I could learn in running,&rdquo; she says. Before that she had been running 70-100km per week, but Ueltschi added some missing structure into her programme and got her to slow down. &ldquo;I was doing all my training way too hard and no easy running, so my quality training was not good,&rdquo; she recalls.
Ueltschi adds: &ldquo;We started off quite gently, but prioritised the interval sessions. We gradually built on the volume over time and that's where I was most surprised; she is just really, really strong. Soon 140-150k weeks were well managed.
&ldquo;I don't want to make it sound easy here,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Nienke shows extreme passion for running, she is very disciplined, she hardly missed any sessions at all.&rdquo;
Brinkman agrees: &ldquo;I find it hard to miss training. I would do anything to make it to training but sometimes Ben would say, &lsquo;hey man, if you&rsquo;re so tired, it doesn&rsquo;t make sense&rsquo;. Sometimes he needed to tell me that it&rsquo;s okay to take it easy.&rdquo;
In the summer of 2021, Brinkman competed in trail running with considerable success, placing second in the world-class Sierre-Zinal. However, it was the seismologist&rsquo;s run in Valencia in December that was to truly shake the Richter scale.
&ldquo;We were going for sub-2:30 and the expectation was 2:28 on a really good day,&rdquo; she says, admitting the attention afterwards was &ldquo;very overwhelming&rdquo;. She adds: &ldquo;I really liked all of a sudden that you get a lot of attention for this performance, but I also had to really absorb it.&rdquo;
The performance led to a link-up with NN Running, the team behind athletes such as Eliud Kipchoge, Yalemzerf Yehualaw and Letesenbet Gidey.
As well as helping to deflect a little of the media focus, NN Running helped with support such as a period of training in Kenya, which was perfect preparation for the Rotterdam Marathon.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63822c3c473e5a74ca3c6f6d.jpg" alt="Nienke Brinkman at the Rotterdam Marathon" />
Nienke Brinkman at the Rotterdam Marathon (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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It was there in Iten that Brinkman came to learn about Lornah Kiplagat, the holder of the Dutch record at 2:23:43. It&rsquo;s a reminder of how new to the sport she was &ndash; and still is &ndash; when Brinkman says: &ldquo;Beforehand I didn&rsquo;t know about her. When I was in Kenya I was with her sister&rsquo;s husband staying in his lodge, so I had heard a little bit about her but not so much.&rdquo;
It was only on her return that Brinkman and Ueltschi started to realise the Netherlands could soon have a new national record-holder. Indeed, the nearly four-minute improvement on her PB would clearly make her a contender for the European Championships in Munich in August. She picked that over the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in part due to the travel and her PhD commitments.
She was many people&rsquo;s favourite for gold in Germany but ultimately placed behind winner Aleksandra Lisowska of Poland and Matea Parlov Kostro of Croatia, needing to summon every effort to hold off Germany&rsquo;s Miriam Dattke for the final medal place. European bronze was, nevertheless, of course, an amazing achievement for someone so new in the sport, but she feels she learned a lot in her first experience of a tactical road race.
Talking about stomach issues which surfaced on the eve of the race, she says: &ldquo;My stomach after 27km couldn&rsquo;t take in any fuel and I was a bit traumatised after the race with what happened with my stomach. But also I lost a lot of energy when I went to the aid station &hellip; because I was not able to push myself through all the ladies to get my bottle so it was a good lesson for me, I think. Also, just before the race when I am really stressed, my stomach also gets sensitive to this and I need to be careful with what I take in.&rdquo;
Even more impressively, Brinkman succeeded in mixing up her Munich preparation with a trail campaign. She competed in and won four stages of the Golden Trail World Series. She also competed in the Madeira Ocean and Trail Five-Day Stage Race, where she raced five times in five days to seal the overall series win.
&ldquo;Probably because it&rsquo;s a bit of a smaller group, it&rsquo;s much more like a group of friends sort of environment,&rdquo; she says of the trail running scene. &ldquo;I really like that the group knows each other so well in trail running.
&ldquo;I think trail running makes you super-strong in a sense. The small muscles for stabilisation &ndash; I think it really helps. Also trail running can be quite tough so it&rsquo;s good mental training sometimes. I think, on the other hand, road running can give me a lot of speed, which helps also on the trails.&rdquo;
However, her eyes are firmly set on the marathon at the next Olympics. &ldquo;I really want to go to Paris 2024, so I need to prioritise road running, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean I cannot do trail running at all,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I can still do it on the side, but maybe not the full Golden Trail series, for example.&rdquo;
Her preparations for Paris will be eased now she is coming to the end of her PhD and her&nbsp;time spent working with NASA probes on Mars. Having secured sponsorship with Nike, she is hoping to become full-time in her sport.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63822b2e473e5a74ca3c6f67.jpg" alt="Nienke Brinkman in action at the European Championships" />
Nienke Brinkman in action at the European Championships (&copy; Getty Images)
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So, with increased focus on the marathon and arguably years before she reaches peak &lsquo;training age&rsquo;, what is her ultimate potential?
Ueltschi is offered the chance to opt out of risking piling on too much pressure but responds: &ldquo;We have a lot of plans about how we are going to raise the training stimulus next season. I think performances close to Paula Radcliffe&rsquo;s time (European record of 2:15:25) could be possible in a couple of years.
&ldquo;But who knows? Will she still have the same passion for running in a couple of years? I do think so&hellip; She is a clever girl who can do literally anything she puts her mind to. Maybe she will be an astronaut in 10 years!&rdquo;
Brinkman laughs: &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t heard him say that [about Radcliffe&rsquo;s time]. We talked about 2:19, of course&hellip; I always find it scary to talk about. Of course, I want to go there, but I am just scared that I cannot do it. But I want to give it everything I can to try and go for such things.&rdquo;
As for that passion and commitment, Ueltschi need not worry that Brinkman will leave the elite marathon-running scene as quickly as she found it. &ldquo;After a big event, I really have to sit down with Ben and the only thing he wants is that I go back to training with the mindset that I still want to do this,&rdquo; said Brinkman. &ldquo;And all the time this is the case.
&ldquo;I am only starting to like it more and more. For me at the moment, yes, I have a lot of fun in doing this. I really like it. I have been training my body my entire life and now you can see that it pays off.&rdquo;
So a career as an astronaut may not be on the cards after all but, one way or another, it&rsquo;s clear the sky is the limit for Brinkman.
Paul Halford for World Athletics

Nienke Brinkman has had a seismic impact on the marathon event in a short space of time

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