Jakob Ingebrigtsen running European XC championships. Update: No he's not. Pulls out on Dec. 4th.

Good opportunity to test his body in race conditions without a lot on the line. And I don't mean Euro XC isn't worthwhile - I mean he has already won 10,000 XC golds. Nothing to be gained by winning or not winning another.

Confirmed?

Hope so.

Hope he puts the pretenders in their place

He is undefeated in Euro Cross. Lots on the line.

Is Gressier lining up?

Confirmed. Filip is being selected too. Nordas seems to have road race plans for this weekend.
super strong U20 boys and girl teams - Moe Berg, Oyen, Dybahl , Buncic and Torbiörnsson , Nygard Vie, Abraham Teffera.
U23 mens team include Halvorsen and Vesterhaug Warnes.

Almgren is not running. I dont know if Gressier is racing, but he wont stand a chance against Ingebrigtsen either way.

What about a certain Italian OR a certain Spaniard; no 2 and 3 from last year.

Here is the article confirming the news. Would be great if Gressier showed up too. But I'd rather see them both at World XC.

https://www.european-athletics.com/home/competitions/spar-european-cross-country-championships/competition-news/ingebrigtsen-to-target-a-fourth-senior-title-at-spar-european-cross-country-championships

I'd be just as excited to watch a 1v1 dogfight between them at Euro.

Is cross country tough on the Achilles? If so, id rather him just focus on maybe some road racing in super shoes (better for Achilles) and then outdoors to ge that 5k record. No indoors as that is a risk too

Jimmy Gressier didn’t show up at the french Euro XC selection race last sunday (Allonnes). The federation could still give him one of the five spots, but it looks like he may not be interested in going (just like last year).

EDIT: He’s on the list on the French federation’s website, but with an asterisk indicating he’s “subject to confirmation” (or “pending”), without any further details.

Uh, not sure I agree with that.

Nobody has really connected the dots on Jakob's lower leg issues have they?

All this guy does is rack up heavy volume in soft super shoes running anti-clockwise around a running track. In his high-volume track phase (March/April) he is running approx 20km a day across two workouts (his famous "double stacking" in shoes with 35mm+ of soft foam under his heel which is compressing to half the size and back every time he foot-strikes.

Does that intuitively sound like a good "scenario" for the body? The slight over-extension of the lower leg muscles because the underfoot platform is essentially "giving way" considerably every time the foot impacts the ground? I personally believe "super shoes" have been the cause of all his issues and it's stunning to me that this guy and his team that are so "scientific" and meticulous around his training haven't figured this out yet. Even small things like when he starts his reps - he basically does them from a standing start (slow walk in), always pushing off the left foot first - a small burst of stress but one that with his volume of reps matters.

Is XC that much better? On a good firm course yes, on a super sloppy course no - fundamentally the same issue as blasting miles in his super shoes. But this race is in Lagoa Portugal which has hardly any rain this time of year (I just looked at the forecast it's been mid 60's and sunny for the last multiple weeks) so if the course is firm then it will be idea for him body wise and certainly better than putting in more intense effort in marshmallow shoes that quite frankly he's been overusing in training (not what they were created for either btw).

Just an all around bad idea. So you’re telling me he’s going to race XC, then race at least two indoor meets, then race World Indoors, then race some on the DL, race the European Championships, race some more on the DL, and then race the Ultimate World Champs? All while trying to break the three hardest WRs in the books for himself? Bye bye Achilles.

I understand that the European XC champs means a lot in Europe but he admitted himself that his main goal is three WRs in the 1500, Mile, 5000. That would mean a heck of a lot more than winning yet another Euro XC title and I wouldn’t compromise that goal in any way unless it’s a WC race (like World Indoors).

If Jakob is in the same shape as last year NO ONE will stand a chance.

But do we know if that is the case. Any indications from his training?

He should race Euro XC and (if Euro XC goes well) World XC, and then skip indoors altogether to prep to chase WRs outdoors.

I don’t think he can be in as good shape as last year. He had his tonsils removed after coming back from Japan and completely stopped training for two weeks. He only really got back to it around mid-October, and probably had to be extra careful ramping up because of the recent Achilles issue. So he’s got barely a month of real base training in the bank.
On top of that, he was coming into the break in much worse shape than last year (7:17 for 3000m then, vs ~13:00 for 5000m this year).

My guess is he’s treating Euro XC as a “back to racing” test. He can win, but it’s a lot less likely than in past years. More likely he’s using it as a stepping stone for XC Worlds championships in January—by then he’ll have another solid month of training, which changes everything.

I doubt if he’ll overthink it like that. He’ll just get to the starting line and give it a go. If he feels good, he’s likely to win.

Um. He has a way better chance at Double gold in Poland than beating Kiplimo in World XC. Downvote all you want but it's true.

Noone is telling you what you are claiming is his scedule this winter. So many fools on this forum....