1997 World Cross Country Championships

The 25th IAAF World Cross Country Championships the IAAF took place on 23. March 1997 in Turin ( Italy instead).

The venue for the competitions was the Parco del Valentino, where a 1911 m circuit had been prepared. The start was in the north of the park at the Fontana Luminosa, the finish at the intersection of Viale Crivelli and Viale Virgilio next to the Borgo Medioevale. The men started over 12.333 km, the women over 6.6 km, the juniors over 8.511 km and the juniors over 4.689 km. 15,000 spectators followed the action.

The favorites for the men were defending champion Paul Tergat and last year's runner-up Salah Hissou . In the 10,000-meter run of the 1996 Olympic Games , Tergat won silver and Hissou bronze, and shortly afterwards Hissou set the world record for that distance. The race was dominated for a long time by Tom Nyariki , who led almost nine kilometers, at times with a distance of 50 m. On the last two kilometers, Hissou attacked, caught up with Nyariki and shook off all Kenyan chasers except Tergat, who finally won his third title in a row with a two-second advantage.

The women's race was just as close. At the beginning of the third and final round, a group of five had formed, from which the defending champion Gete Wami finally left . Paula Radcliffe followed her and took the lead 300 meters from the finish, but was eventually overrun by Derartu Tulu , who was cross-country world champion for the second time since 1995.

Results

Men

Individual evaluation

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Paul Tergat	KEN	35:11
2	Salah Hissou	MAR	35:13
3	Tom Nyariki	KEN	35:20
4th	Paul Koech	KEN	35:23
5	Mohammed Mourhit	BEL	35:35
6th	Bernard Barmasai	KEN	35:35
7th	Joseph Kibor	KEN	35:37
8th	Ismaïl Sghyr	MAR	35:56

Of 286 registered athletes, 280 started and 265 reached the finish.

Participants from German-speaking countries:

• 89: Jürg Stalder ( SUI ), 37:44
• 168: Viktor Röthlin ( SUI ), 39:10

Team evaluation

space	Country and athletes	Total points and individual placement
1	Kenya Paul Tergat Tom Nyariki Paul Koech Joseph Kibor Joshua Chelanga Shem Kororia	051 1 3 4 7 17 19 00 00 00 00 0 0
2	Morocco Salah Hissou Ismaïl Sghyr Khaled Boulami El Hassan Lahssini Elarbi Khattabi Brahim Boulami	070 2 8 10 12 16 22 00 00 0 0 0 0
3	Ethiopia Habte Jifar Assefa Mezgebu Ayele Mezgebu Abraham Assefa Girma Tolla Tegenu Abebe	125 0 11 013 018 023 027 033

A total of 27 teams were rated.

Women

Individual evaluation

space	Athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Derartu Tulu	ETH	20:53
2	Paula Radcliffe	GBR	20:55
3	Gete Wami	ETH	21:00
4th	Julia Vaquero	ESP	21:01
5	Sally Barsosio	KEN	21:05
6th	Merima Denboba	ETH	21:18
7th	Catherina McKiernan	IRL	21:20
8th	Naomi Mugo	KEN	21:23

Of 148 registered athletes, 147 started and 145 reached the finish.

Participants from German-speaking countries:

• 91: Nelly Glauser ( SUI ), 23:01
• DNF: Anita Weyermann ( SUI )

Team evaluation

space	Country and athletes	Total points and individual placement
1	Ethiopia Derartu Tulu Gete Wami Merima Denboba Berhane Adere	24 0 1 03 06 14
2	Kenya Sally Barsosio Naomi Mugo Jane Omoro Lydia Cheromei	34 0 5 08 10 11
3	Ireland Catherina McKiernan Sonia O'Sullivan Valerie Vaughan Una English	64 0 7 09 23 25

A total of 24 teams were rated.

Juniors

Individual evaluation

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Elijah Korir	KEN	24:21
2	Million wolde	ETH	24:28
3	Paul Malakwen Kosgei	KEN	24:29

Of 163 registered athletes, 160 started and 159 reached the finish.

Participants from German-speaking countries:

• 117: Jérôme Schaffner ( SUI ), 28:07
• 122: Pierre-André Ramuz ( SUI ), 28:13
• 126: Mikael Aigroz ( SUI ), 28:18
• 140: Peter Knuchel ( SUI ), 28:59
• 150: Pascal Berger ( SUI ), 29:29

Team evaluation

space	Country and athletes	Total points and individual placement
1	Kenya Elijah Korir Paul Malakwen Kosgei John Gwako Charles Kwambai	13 0 1 03 04 05
2	Ethiopia Million Wolde Alene Emere Yibeltal Admassu Hailu Mekonnen	31 0 2 07 10 12
3	Morocco Ali Ezzine Adil Kaouch Abderahim Bouchlouch Hicham Lamalem	74 11 19 21 23

A total of 26 teams were rated. The Swiss team finished 24th with 505 points.

Juniors

Individual evaluation

space	Athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Rose Jerotich Kosgei	KEN	14:58
2	Priscah Jepleting Ngetich	KEN	14:59
3	Ayelech Worku	ETH	15:02

Of 138 registered and started athletes, 136 reached the finish.

Participants from German-speaking countries:

• 37: Laura Suffa ( GER ), 16:22
• 39: Larissa Kleinmann ( GER ), 16:26
• 51: Susanne Ritter ( GER ), 16:36
• 79: Joelle Franzmann ( GER ), 17:01
• 92: Sonia Scheurer ( GER ), 17:13

Team evaluation

space	Country and athletes	Total points and individual placement
1	Kenya Rose Jerotich Kosgei Priscah Jepleting Ngetich Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat Caroline Tarus	15 0 1 02 04 08
2	Japan Kei Satomura Emiko Kojima Risa Tanaka Tomoko Hashimoto	38 0 6 07 11 14
3	Ethiopia Ayelech Worku Zenebech Tadesse Werknesh Kidane Etaferahu Tarekegne	39 0 3 05 13 18

A total of 22 teams were rated. The German team finished eighth with 206 points.

Web links

• 25th IAAF-Pirelli World Cross Country Championships 1997 on the IAAF website
• Senior Men's race ( Memento of October 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Senior Women's race ( Memento of October 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Junior Men's race ( Memento of October 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Junior Women's race ( Memento of October 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) - results on the Athchamps website

Footnotes

1. ↑ starting outside of the team classification

Coordinates: 45 ° 3 ′ 3 ″  N , 7 ° 41 ′ 8 ″  E