2024 World Athletics Cross Country Championships

The inaugural World Cross Country Championships was held at the Hippodroom Waregem in Waregem, Belgium in March 1973. The International Amateur Athletic Federation invited 150 nations, of which 21 nations competed in the 1973 IAAF World Cross Country Championships across three events (senior men and women, junior men). The junior women's category was introduced for the first time in the 1989 event held at Stavanger, Norway. Since the inaugural edition, it was held as an annual event, with an increasing number of nations participating in it. In the 2000 World Championships held at Vilamoura in Portugal, 76 nations participated in six events. For the first time since its inception, there was no global level championship for cross country running in 2012 and the IAAF announced that the World Cross Country Championships would become a biennial format from theron. The event was not held in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic, and a virtual event was held in its place. While initially postponed to September 2021 and later to 2022, it was not held due to travel restrictions. The event returned in 2023, and was hosted in Bathurst, Australia. The championships were once again delayed to 2023 in September 2021, due to Australian travel restrictions. == Host and venue ==

The event was originally planned to be held in Medulin and Pula in Croatia in February 2024. However, due to lack of preparations, on the 15th of September 2023, it was announced by World Athletics that the event is to be moved to an undisclosed new venue. On 27 September 2023, World Athletics awarded the hosting rights to Belgrade. Belgrade has previously hosted the 2013 European Cross Country Championships, and recently hosted multi-nation events such as 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships, 2017 Balkan Championships, and 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships. The event was held in the Park of Friendship, located next to the Sava and Danube rivers. The main course consisted of a loop, with and start and finish straights respectively. The event was held on a predominantly grass terrain covered with dirt and sand. == Events and schedule ==

The 45th edition of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships was held on 30 March 2024. In each of the races, each nation was allowed to field a maximum of up to six athletes. The mixed relay team consisted of teams of two women and two men each running one loop of the course in a specified order, starting with a male and alternating between genders. Athletes were to carry a wristband that was to be transferred to the next athlete within the takeover zone. == Prizes ==

Nine sets of medals were awarded to the competitors across the five events. Apart from the medals awarded to the top three finishers in the individual categories, medals were also awarded to the best teams. Any nation required a minimum of four athletes competing in a single event to be eligible for the team medals. In case of more than four participants, the times of top four athletes on each team were counted towards the race result. • Note: Totals include both individual and team medals, with medals in the team competition counting as one medal. == Participation ==

About 485 athletes from 51 countries participated in the Games. Competitors included the defending senior men's and women's champions Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda and Beatrice Chebet of Kenya respectively. == Results ==

In the men's race, Chimdessa Debele of Ethiopia led during the initial laps from France's Mehdi Frere while most of the other athletes were part of one large chasing pack. While the initial leaders were caught by the chasing pack, Kenya's Gideon Rono mounted a solo attack, which was soon mitigated by the main pack. In the 24th minute of the race, Jacob Kiplimo and Berihu Aregawi made their moves to lead ahead of the pack. Kiplimo and Aregawi finished in first and second, replicating their performance from the previous edition. Benson Kiplangat of Kenya won the bronze, while the third-place finisher from the last edition, Joshua Cheptegei, finished sixth. In the team contest, Uganda and Kenya were level on points in the third lap. However, Kenya inched ahead, and won the gold as five Kenyans finished in the top eight places. In the women's event, the Kenyan team of Agnes Jebet Ngetich, Beatrice Chebet, Emmaculate Anyango, Lilian Kasait Rengeruk, and Margaret Kipkemboi led from the front since the start with Uganda's Joy Cheptoyek and USA's Weini Kelati Frezghi trying to keep up with the leaders. By the second lap, only Uganda's Sarah Chelangat and Kazakhstan's Daisy Jepkemei were close to the Kenyan group. While Anyango and Ngetich dropped back, it was down to Chebet, Rengeruk and Kipkemboi for the race win. Chetbet won and successfully defended her title, followed by Rengeruk and Kipkemboi in second and third respectively. It was just the fifth time in history that both the senior men's and women's champions have retained their titles at the World Cross Country Championships. Kenya also took the women's team title. Kenya also won the mixed relay event. ==References==