Who, what and when guide: European Running Championships – AW

Everything you need to know about this weekend’s inaugural event, which incorporates the 10km, half-marathon and marathon, in Brussels-Leuven

Two years ago, Latvia played host to the inaugural World Athletics Road Running Championships, with athletes vying for gold medals across the mile, 5km and half-marathon.

Not only did 347 of the world’s best runners compete in the elite races but there was also a mass participation element to the event, with medals handed out to those that completed the courses.

Such was the success of those championships, and with the explosion in popularity of road running in general, that European Athletics have now created their own version.

So this weekend (April 12-13), Brussels and Leuven will be the stage for the brand new European Running Championships.

Elite athletes will take on either a 10km, half-marathon or marathon, with the first two disciplines occurring in Leuven. The marathon begins in Brussels and ends in Leuven.

Battocletti looking to make history in 10km 

Nadia Battocletti’s ultimate aim this weekend is to win European titles on three different surfaces, with gold medals on the track and over cross-country already secured.

The Italian became European 5000m and 10,000m champion on home soil last June and then, six months later, she topped the podium in the senior race at the European Cross Country Championships.

The pinnacle of Battocletti’s season however came in Paris where she claimed the silver medal in the 10,0000m, setting a national record of 30:43.35, just behind Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet who clocked 30:43.25.

With victory at the Italian Cross Country Championships last month, Battocletti also topped the standings at the 2024-2025 World Athletics Cross Country Tour.

Her personal best over 10km is 31:19 and she set that at the ASICS Speed Paris meet last June.

Battocletti might be one of the biggest names in 10km field for the European Running Championships but victory is by no means guaranteed.

Slovakia’s Klara Lukan has the fastest personal best in the field with 30:26, a time she set in Castellón, Spain two months ago. That run moved her fourth on the European all-time list, with only Lonah Salpeter (30:05), Eilish McColgan (30:19) and Paula Radcliffe (30:21) having gone quicker.

Diane van Es is fifth on the European all-time list with 30:29 – set on home soil in the Netherlands two years ago – and she’s also in the field. The Dutch athlete placed second behind Battocletti in last year’s 10,000m in Rome and recently set a European 5km record of 14:39 in Monaco.

Another athlete to watch out is Belgian Jana van Lent, who boasts a personal best of 31:17 over 10km and will no doubt be buoyed by a partisan home crowd.

There is a strong British cohort in the field, with Beth Potter, Verity Ockenden, Phoebe Anderson, Sarah Astin, Jenny Nesbitt and Amelia Quirk travelling to the Belgian capital.

Potter, who secured an Olympic bronze medal in both the individual and mixed relay triathlon last summer, will be testing herself out on the roads for the second time in less than a month, after running 31:15 at the Pulford 10km.

Anderson has a 10km best of 32:25 will also look to establish herself on senior stage after becoming European individual under-23 cross-country champion in Antalya last December.

Lobalu striving for the top of the podium 

Dominic Lobalu is one of the standout names in the men’s 10km field at the European Running Championships and he will be hoping to add a European road title to the one he claimed on the track last summer.

The Swiss athlete dominated the European 10,000m final and won with 28:00.32 at the Stadio Olimpico, 14 seconds ahead of France’s Yann Scrub.

Lobalu then claimed a bronze medal in the 5000m, finishing behind Jakob Ingebrigtsen and George Mills in Rome.

Two months later, at the Paris Olympics, the distance runner placed fourth – for the Athlete Refugee Team – in the 5000m at the Stade de France.

Lobalu’s best of 26:54 over 10km came in Valencia three months ago, where he placed just one second behind Sweden’s Andreas Almgren.

Almgren’s mark is still the European record and he, alongside Lobalu, will be one of the favourites over 10km in Belgium.

One athlete you shouldn’t count out is France’s Etienne Daguinos, who previously held the European 10km mark, when he ran 27:04 in Lille last November.

Scrub, who shared the European 10,000m podium in the Italian capital last summer, is also in the field and his 10km best is 27:58.

There is a British quartet in the men’s 10km and it includes Rory Leonard, Ellis Cross, Alfie Manthorpe and Charlie Wheeler.

Leonard is the fastest of the four in the field and last month broke Mo Farah’s national 10km record with 27:38. That mark also places the Brit 11th on the European all-time list – he is the fourth quickest entrant in the field.

Wheeler, who also dipped under Farah’s time of 27:44 –  clocking 27:42 for a huge personal best – will be making his senior international debut for Great Britain in Belgium.

Gressier targets golden moment in the half-marathon 

Jimmy Gressier has started his 2025 season in some style with a myriad of European records and he will be hoping that rich form continues over 13.1 miles in Belgium.

The French athlete has a half-marathon best of 59:46 – set at the World Athletics Road Running Championships two years ago – and will fancy his chances of topping the podium on this occasion.

If he needs any confidence, it’s not too far away. Gressier has set two European records so far this season, clocking 12:54.92 for an indoor 5000m in Boston and then, last month, he ran a scintillating 12:57 over 5km.

His toughest opponent at the European Running Championships is likely to come from Spain’s Carlos Mayo, who has the fastest half-marathon in the entire field with a mark of 59:39.

Mayo set that time in Valencia two years ago and more recently placed 14th over the distance at last summer’s European Championships.

There are no British entrants after Ben Connor, who was initially on the list, but declined to represent Great Britain after UK Athletics asked athletes for a fee of up to £1100 to cover things like travel, accommodation, food, kit and staff.

Connor, on his Instagram, stated that “England Athletics had offered to subsidise their athletes”, with UK Athletics adding that the fee “was likely to be under £500”.

However, the 32-year-old, who is seventh on the UK all-time half-marathon list with 60:55, said that the national governing body was still asking for a “significant athlete contribution” and that he felt “it is wrong”.

Connor is instead competing at this Sunday’s Newport Marathon Festival.

In the women’s half-marathon, Diane van Es – also entered for the 10km – has the fastest time in the field with 68:03.

The Dutch athlete, who will be hoping to secure two gold medals at the European Running Championships, set that time at last month’s New York Half Marathon.

Hannah Irwin, who has a half-marathon best of 70:49, will be the only British representative in the race after Natasha Phillips pulled out due to a knee injury.

Marathons will be competitive but are lower key 

With the Boston and London Marathons approaching, it’s not a surprise that many of Europe’s top athletes over 26.2 miles won’t be in Belgium.

In the men’s race, watch out for Israeli duo Maru Teferi and Gashau Ayale, who boast respective bests of 2:04:44 and 2:04:53 respectively.

Turkey’s veteran distance runner Kaan Kigen Özbilen has already competed in a marathon this season – he placed eighth at the Doha Marathon by Ooredoo back in January.

Great Britain’s sole representative is James George, who has a best of 2:11:19 over 26.2 miles.

The women’s field is headed by Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Saltpeter and she, with a fastest marathon of 2:17:45, will likely be the one to beat on paper.

Salpeter – a European 10,000m champion and Tokyo Marathon winner – has already  raced over 26.2 miles this season so far and clocked 2:24:03 in Osaka.

Georgina Schwiening runs for Great Britain and she boasts a quickest mark of 2:25:46 over the distance.

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