USA XC legend Craig Virgin shares his thoughts on the state of World Cross Country

There is nowhere where Craig Virgin is more at home than the World Cross Country Championships. The US distance running legend competed at World XC nine times in the 1970s and 1980s and remains the only American man to win the race, doing so in 1980 and 1981. He even helped promote Fred Lebow‘s successful bid to host the 1984 World XC at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Virgin qualified for three Olympic teams and set the American record at 10,000 meters (his 27:29.16 personal best was the #2 time in world history when he ran it in 1980), but it is in cross country where his legacy was forged. And that’s quite all right with the Illinois native, who grew up herding cattle on the family farm.

So as Tallahassee prepared to host the first World XC on US soil since 1992, it was no surprise to find Virgin strolling around the course at Apalachee Regional Park the day before the race, trailed by a camera crew working on a documentary about his life. Virgin had expected to be part of the pre-race press conference, but World Athletics opted for five-time World XC champ Paul Tergat. Instead, the loquacious Virgin, 70, wound up sitting down for an interview with a few members of the US press corps, where he shared his thoughts on the state of World Cross Country in 2026. Here are the highlights from our chat with Virgin.

For more on Virgin and World Cross Country, check out our 2020 interview with him on the 40th anniversary of his first World XC win: LRC Craig Virgin Recalls His Epic Victory at the World Cross Country Championships, 40 Years Later

“I’m worried about cross country at the international level”

Virgin so loved World XC when he was competing that he would recruit some of America’s best distance runners to join him on the team. That is one of the reasons why Team USA earned five silvers and two bronzes at World XC during Virgin’s career, at a time when Kenya was still emerging as an XC powerhouse.

In all, Virgin ran at World XC nine times, and it would have been 10 had a poorly-timed illness not prevented him from defending his title in 1982. And he still firmly believes top runners can run World XC while excelling on the roads or track.

“[When I recruited guys to run World XC], I would tell them, look it’s a catalyst,” Virgin said. “It’s terrific international experience. I said, look at the statistics. Every American that runs well at the World Championships has a great track season. It is a catalyst to a bigger and better track season.

“…When I ran, some of the best marathoners were there, and a month later, they were running their top marathons….So I’m against all these naysayers that say you can’t do World Cross Country and have a good spring marathon. I’m also against these naysayers and agents that say you can’t run World Cross Country and have a good track season. Bullshit. I did it. Other guys did it.”

When Virgin won his second world title in 1981, three of the four medalists from the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the previous year’s Olympics were in the race (two men, Miruts Yifter and Kaarlo Maaninka, medalled twice; both ran World XC). This year, Jimmy Gressier (10,000 gold, 5,000 bronze) was the only 5k/10k medalist from the 2025 Worlds at World XC, but, thanks to the likes of Jacob Kiplimo and Berihu Aregawi, the quality at the top remained strong. But Virgin said he is concerned about the dwindling participation from other countries at World XC.

In 1981, there were 228 finishers in the men’s senior race, with 27 countries recording a team score — and that is in the days when countries entered nine men and scored six. In 2026, there were 114 finishers in the men’s senior race — exactly half as many as in 1981. And in Tallahassee, only 17 countries recorded a team score, even though only four men are now required to score.

“I’m worried about cross country at the international level,” Virgin said.

“The sport can’t handle another three years off”

Over the last 15 years, the scheduling of World XC has been inconsistent. Held annually up until 2011, the event was supposed to be held every other year starting in 2013 but then a thing called COVID came.  The edition initially scheduled to be held in Bathurst in 2021 was postponed to 2022 and then again to 2023 because of COVID restrictions in Australia. That meant a four-year gap between Aarhus 2019 and Bathurst 2023.

Then, hoping to get the sport into the Winter Olympics, World Athletics shifted the event to be held in even years, so there was a World XC in 2024 and 2026, only for WA to decide to shift back to odd years moving forward. Which means a three-year wait until the next one as there will not be a World XC in 2027.

“Cross country has been sputtering,” Virgin said. “It’s almost like going through a mudpit: fast, slow, no-go, fast again. We need consistency. We had consistency when it was every year. Now, I think it needs to be ’26, ’27, a year off in ’28, and bring it in ’29…This sport can’t handle another three years off.”

Virgin came away impressed by the course, organization, and fans in Tallahassee and has a solution for the gap in 2027: “Give it to Tallahassee again!”

As well-received as this year’s edition was — World Athletics president Seb Coe semi-seriously teased the idea of Tallahassee as a permanent host — the chances of that appear slim. It is hard to make money from World XC and the event costs around $2 million for the local organizing committee to stage (plus contributions from World Athletics). Unless Tallahassee can find a major benefactor quickly, it would be a lot to ask for them to lose a significant amount of money by throwing another big party for the world.

Virgin spoke at the LetsRun.com post-race party following World XC in Tallahassee on January 10 (Don Reynolds photo)

Virgin throws his support behind cross country in the Winter Olympics

Coe has been pushing for cross country to be added to the Winter Olympics for several years now, and while the sport will not feature at next month’s Games in Italy, there is a real possibility it could be added for the 2030 edition in the French Alps. Virgin would love to see it, believing it would raise the profile of the event in the US in a way World XC never could.

“For the people that aren’t knowledgeable about our sport [in America], we’re fixated on the Olympics,” Virgin said. “…Put it in a central city park that’s big enough, and make it a free event. Make it for all those thousands of people that attend the Winter Olympics.”

The main pushback has come from winter sport federations, who maintain that cross country has no place in the Winter Olympics given it is not traditionally contested on snow or ice, as required by the Olympic Charter. Critics have also noted that running is already present in the Summer Olympics in the form of track & field and that adding it to the Winter Olympics opens the door for other sports to double dip.

But Virgin believes adding cross country to the Winter Olympics would make more sense than some of the other decisions the IOC has made in recent years.

“If they can have breakdancing in the Summer Olympics, then we can certainly have cross country in the Winter Olympics,” Virgin said.

Reminder: older international athletes have been part of NCAA cross country for decades

In the leadup to November’s NCAA cross country championships, there was a lot of discussion about the recent influx of international athletes into the NCAA, in particular those competing in the NCAA in their mid-20s and beyond. After our 15-minute interview wrapped, Virgin noted that this was nothing new. He recalled competing against international athletes during his own career when he ran at the University of Illinois in the 1970s.

Virgin won the NCAA individual title as a junior in 1975, but was beaten at NCAA XC the following year by a 24-year-old freshman from Washington State named Henry Rono. Rono’s winning time of 28:06 for the 10k course at North Texas State (now just North Texas) still stands as the NCAA meet record 10 years later (Virgin was 3rd in 28:26).

Cross country times must always be taken with a grain of salt, of course, but for any doubting the quality of the field in 1976, consider that the first two finishers — Rono and his Washington State teammate Samson Kimobwa — would both break the 10,000-meter world record within the next two years.

It is also worth noting that in the 10-year span beginning with Virgin’s title, half of the NCAA men’s XC champions were aged 24 or older, including two 27-year-olds and a 30-year-old.

You can view the entire interview with Virgin below, which was recorded on January 9, 2026, the day before World XC in Tallahassee:

Talk about this interview on the world famous messageboard: 2-time world xc champ Craig Virgin talks about XC…. And we listen.