Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega made his return memorable after five years when he showed class on the Mintxeta circuit for the third time at the 79th edition of the Elgoibar Juan Muguerza Cross Country championships held on Sunday (8) in Gipuzkoa, Spain.
The 22 year-old who is also the reigning World 3000m champion took the Elgoibar title in 2018 in a fascinating duel with the current World Half Marathon record holder, Jacob Kiplimo, but Barega could not retain the crown the following year as he was defeated by the World 10km record holder Rhonex Kipruto from Kenya.
The 2019 World 5000m silver medallist trounced a deep field that included the 2017 European cross-country silver medallist, Adel Mechaal, Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew who making his debut in Elgoibar and who took silver last Friday at the Campaccio-International Cross Country.
Barega took the top honors and was followed in second by Balew
The 2017 European Indoor 3000m champion, Mechaal closed the podium three finishes.
LEADING RESULTS
10KM MEN
- Selemon Barega (ETH)
- Birhanu Balew (BAH)
- Adel Mechaal (SPN)
Facebook Comments