Lisa Rooms and Isaac Kimeli won the third round of the CrossCup in Roeselare. The competition also serves as the selection competition for the European Cross Country Championships on December 11 in Turin. 4 – Belgians are allowed to go to the European Championships for both men and women.
It was Hanne Verbruggen and Eline Dalemans who took the lead in the first kilometers in the women’s race.
Dalemans continued to fight for the win until the end, but Verbruggen was hit badly about halfway through the race. You will eventually finish in fourth place.
Lisa Rooms showed herself to be the strongest in the final. As the winner, she was sure of getting a direct ticket to the European Championship.
A team of 4 will only be kicked out if the 4 finishes within 55 seconds of the winner, and they succeed.
Micky Goresen was second, and Elaine Dallman was third. Verbruggen finished 4th with a time of 24 seconds, so the first 4 women could go to Turin.
Good to know: the organization announced this on Friday The course will be a little easier in bad weatherjust to reduce the differences between the contestants.
A 4-man team also qualified for Turin on the reserves: Juliette Thomas won ahead of Anneliese Nijsen, Roxanne Kleppe and Jana van Lint.
Do you want to get into the top 20 in the European Championships?
“It was in my head all week to win here, because only then I will be sure of the European Championship,” said Lisa Romes.
“For the first two rounds, I felt so controlled that my confidence only increased. But at a certain moment I let myself lull to sleep and Ellen Dalmance took off for a while.”
“When I closed the gap again, I knew I was going to be in for the win. When I was leading the last lap I knew it was going to be for me. In the end I’m the fastest.”
Last year, Roms was one of the athletes who sued Belgian athletics, because no woman was allowed to go to the European Cross Country Championships. Now 4 women are going to Turin.
“Very nice,” says Chambers. “I’m not saying we’re going to do great there, but I think we have a place there and we can just grow from that experience. Individually I find it hard to say what I can do, but I would love to be in the top 20.”
Kimeli makes it (and takes 3 men to Turin)
Of the men, the top jay was reserved for Isaac Kimeli.
For the first kilometers it was a closed race and a large group stayed together. Then four broke up: Isaac Kimeli, John Heymans, Robin Quiringen and Michael Sommers.
In the end, Kimeli beat Querinjean, who plays for Luxembourg, and thus did not claim a possible ticket to the European Championships.
As the winner, Kimeli was sure of being selected for the European Championship, and if the Belgian No. 4 finishes within 40 seconds, a whole team can go to Turin.
It happened, just as it did with the women. Querinjean came in second, but it didn’t count. Then Michael Somers, John Hemans and Robin Hendricks followed, all within the required 40 seconds.
A team of 4 players also qualified for Turin on the reserves: Marco Vanderburten, Jorick van de Kerkhove, Arnaud Collard and Ryan Vanderburten.
Kimeli: “I can compete for a medal at the European Championships”
“My legs were very good. Because I used my strength a lot here last year and eventually got passed by Michael Somers, my coach told me to wait until the last lap,” said Isaac Kimeli.
“He stressed that today I don’t have to walk everyone home, but in two weeks at the European Championships. But if I want, I can escape already in the first round. That’s how strong I am today. In the penultimate round I couldn’t hold back anymore and started in shaking the tree.”
Last year Kimeli finished ninth at the European Championships in Dublin. In 2018 he won the silver medal in Tilburg. “With these legs I can play for a medal in Turin. Jakob Ingebrigtsen may be out of the rankings, but beyond that he is open.”
“Last year I let the big guns go and I was alone in the chase. Our men’s team is very strong too. I can dream of two medals: individually and with the team.”
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