Four gold medals were awarded in only two U20 uphill races on the first day of the European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships in Ljubljana-Kamnik on Friday (5).
French teammates Emilien Simoneau and Yannick Memheld shared the title in the men’s race and Germany's Gloria Herold and Czechia’s Anna Kynclova followed suit in the women’s race.
Rain, fog and low temperatures made the first races of the three-day championships a true challenge but the weather couldn’t stop the French runners from a blistering performance. Memheld, Simoneau and Oscar Cransac-Chayrigues delivered a clean sweep with gold and silver medallists finishing hand-in-hand at exactly the same time.
"We talked about this the day before the race. We said we might finish together if we were competing for first place," said Memheld after reaching the finish-line in Velika Planina, some 1500 metres above sea level, in 18:56.
Simoneau added: "The conditions were difficult, but my mate Yannick and I did a good race – tactically."
Rain, fog and wind at the last section of the 3.8 kilometre climb made it a difficult test for all of the participants but the French team proved themselves to be a cut above their continental rivals.
"It was so hard and very fast right from the start. I am very happy and content with my performance, although the wet conditions were not easy," said Cransac-Chayrigues, who completed the clean sweep of the medals for France.
Behind Italy’s Matteo Bagnus in fourth, David Discher completed a stunning performance for the French team in fifth, securing the victory in the team competition ahead of Italy and Spain.
Double gold awarded in the women’s U20 race
After Gloria Herold from Germany and Czechia's Anna Kynclova crossed the finish-line, it looked like Herold had pipped the title on the line from her Czech rival.
But after reviewing the result, both finished at the exact same time – just as the men only minutes before. This meant a repeat of the men’s race with double gold awarded as defending champion and pre-race favourite Julia Ehrle from Germany, who also won the world U20 title last September, finished third.
Herold was all smiles. "The race was very fast right from the beginning, I tried to catch up with Julia Ehrle. My plan was then to overtake her earlier in the race, but I didn’t manage that before the very last section. In the last 250 metres Anna Kynclova came up and took the lead, but at the finish line she stopped and I tried to run and stretched out my arm." she said.
After regaining breath, Kynclova talked about a thrilling race. "I enjoyed it, it was shorter than expected. In the second half I was still strong but it was painful."
Ehrle might have been run down for the title but the multi-talented German, who won 5000m bronze at the European Athletics U20 Championships last August, was still pleased to make a repeat appearance in the podium in her last season in this age-group.
"It was not my perfect day today," she admitted. "Still I am happy to have finished third."
Ehrle also had the satisfaction of combining with Herold to lead Germany to the team title ahead of France and Italy.