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- Jenny Nesbitt And Matt Willis Revel On Tough World XC Course
By Owen Morgan
Wales’s Jenny Nesbitt and her Great Britain team-mates narrowly missed out on a medal when they finished fourth at the World Cross Country Championships in Denmark.
On what was described as the toughest ever World Championship course, Nesbitt finished 35th overall in the senior women’s race, where she was third home out of the six-strong GB team.
Meanwhile, fellow Welsh athlete Matt Willis, exceeded his own pre-race expectations to finish 25th in the junior men’s race.
The self-coached athlete was the first Brit home and the second European to finish, behind Norwegian teen superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who was 12th.
On a day dominated overall by the African nations, the senior women’s team led the way for Great Britain as they just missed out on a bronze medal behind Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
Welsh and British cross country champion Nesbitt was in buoyant mood after completing the challenging 10k course, which even saw competitors tackling a 10 per cent gradient hill taking them over the top of the Moesgaard Museum, along with several other challenging features.
The Worcester AC athlete, who is coached by Chris Jones, said: “Wow is all I can say, it lived up to all expectations and it was a real ride but we packed really well as a team.
“I saw the girls ahead of me and thought ‘I have got to keep grinding this out’ for a result like that as a team.
“Growing up, it’s your dream to represent your country on the world stage and it’s the pinnacle of sport. You never know when you’re going to come to an event like this again so you have to take it all in and it’s been a great experience.
“I knew I had to be strong throughout and I maybe misjudged the first lap but managed to hold it together in the final two. I didn’t know what to expect but I managed to hang on to the positions and the girls I was around.”
The senior women’s individual champion was Kenya’s Helen Obiri, who made history by becoming the first woman to win senior world titles indoors, outdoors and at cross country.
The British senior women, led home by Kate Avery, were the highest placed European team on the day, while Wrexham athlete Willis produced the joint best British individual performance, matching that of Grace Brock, who finished 25th in the junior women’s race.
Speaking before the men’s junior race Willis said he was aiming for a top 40 finish – a target he comfortably exceeded as he led the GB men’s junior team to an eighth place overall.
The hugely talented all-rounder, who is the ITU World Junior Duathlon Champion, said afterwards: “I’m really happy; I wasn’t expecting to run that well at all. I’m just over the moon to finish in 25th.
“The first lap was ok but then it became a lot harder on the other laps. The sand was particularly hard to run through.
“The hills were hard but I adored the downhills; I used my strength wisely to make up for my weaknesses on the uphill sections.
“It gives me hope for Europeans in December, and gives me that extra bit of motivation.”
The full results from the event in Aarhus can be found on the IAAF website: https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-cross-country-championships
