FLORIDA, USA, Jan 9 – Kenya will be out to reclaim the women’s under-20 title for the first time in seven years at the 2026 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Florida, USA on Sunday.

Beatrice Chebet is the last junior to win the race in 2013, and this year, the Kenyan team is led by Cynthia Chepkirui, who won the highly competitive Kenyan trials in October before beating a senior international field at the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in Cardiff two weeks later.

Miriam Kibet and Lonah Cherono, second and third respectively at the trials, complete the Kenyan team.

Over the past 25 years, all 54 individual medals contested in the U20 women’s race at the World Cross Country Championships have been won by Kenyan or Ethiopian athletes. It would be a surprise if that trend did not continue in Tallahassee on 10 January.

Many eyes will be on defending champion Marta Alemayo when she takes to the start line. The Ethiopian was just 15 years old when she won in Belgrade two years ago and will aim to become only the fourth woman in history to win back-to-back world U20 cross-country titles.

Viola Kibiwot, Genzebe Dibaba, Faith Kipyegon and Letesenbet Gidey have previously achieved that feat, although only the latter two have done so since the championships switched to a biennial format, introducing a two-year gap between titles.

Alemayo finished third at the Ethiopian trials for the World Cross, but the two athletes who beat her were among 14 members of the Ethiopian squad to be denied US visas. As a result, Ethiopia will field just three athletes in the U20 women’s race in Tallahassee, ruling them out of the team contest, for which a minimum of four athletes is required to score. That brings to an end Ethiopia’s run of making the team podium at every edition since 1991.

Despite that, both of Alemayo’s teammates are genuine individual medal contenders and will be aiming to replicate the medal sweep Ethiopia achieved in 2024, 2015 and 2004.

On current form, Yenenesh Shimket is arguably the pre-race favourite. She was the fastest U20 athlete in the world over 3000m last year, clocking a PB of 8:32.01, and has since won World Athletics Cross Country Tour meetings in San Vittore Olona and Alcobendas, beating world and Olympic medallist Nadia Battocletti comfortably in the latter.

Shimket and Alemayo are joined on the Ethiopian team by steeplechase specialist Wosane Asefa, whose 9:20.83 PB made her the second-fastest U20 athlete in the world last year.

Uganda, a three-time team bronze medallist over the past 16 years, has a realistic opportunity to finish in the top two. Their Tallahassee line-up is led by Charity Cherop, who will also be in contention for an individual medal.

After finishing 11th at the last World Cross and helping Uganda secure team bronze, Cherop went on to claim 5000m bronze at the World U20 Championships later that year. In 2025 she set national U20 records over 3000m (8:49.96) and 5000m (15:06.84). She is joined on the Ugandan team by Bentalin Yeko, the East African U20 3000m champion.

Japan has secured 19 team medals from the 29 editions of the U20 women’s race at the World Cross and should again be in the mix in Tallahassee. Their team is led by East Asian U20 5000m champion Mei Hosomi.

The host nation advantage could inspire the USA to repeat its team podium finish from 2023. The squad features Daniela Scheffler, who was second at the US Cross Country Championships behind Victoria Garces, who is no longer an U20 athlete.

Ethiopia’s focus shifts to individual glory: WXC Tallahassee 26 U20 women’s preview

FLORIDA, USA, Jan 9 – Kenyan athletes have won the past nine senior women’s titles and while two-time champion Beatrice Chebet will not be defending her crown, her compatriots will be going for gold again at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Tallahassee 26 on Saturday (10).

With Chebet missing the 2026 season to start a family, a new champion will be crowned at the Apalachee Regional Park and the race for the title will be fierce. Her compatriot Agnes Ngetich, the world 10km record-holder, has the chance to build on the bronze she claimed behind Chebet in Bathurst in 2023.

Ngetich placed fourth as part of a Kenyan top four led by Chebet in Belgrade in 2024 and finished in the same position in the world 10,000m final in Tokyo. Her most recent cross-country outing came at the Sirikwa Classic – a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold event – which she won in February.

Maurine Chebor won the national trials in October. She also finished second at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships in February and claimed the Kenyan police cross-country title last year. The 21-year-old has shown a strong return to form following some injury struggles in 2024 and should be among the leading contenders when she makes her international championship debut.

Ngetich and Chebor will be joined on the Kenyan team by national trials runner-up Brenda Jepchumba Kenei, Joyline Chepkemoi, Rebecca Mwangi and Caren Chebet as they look to claim the senior women’s team title for the third consecutive edition and the eighth time in 10 editions.

The senior women’s team title has been won by either Kenya or Ethiopia at each World Cross Country Championships since 1995. Senayet Getachew, the world U20 champion in 2023, and Asayech Ayichew, who finished second in the U20 race in 2024, both step up to Ethiopia’s senior squad this time.

Ayichew won the Jan Meda International Cross Country, which serves as the Ethiopian Championships, in Addis Ababa in November and the 20-year-old’s track season included Diamond League appearances in Xiamen, Rome and Eugene. In Addis Ababa she placed two spots ahead of marathon specialist Shure Demise, who also features on the team for Tallahassee, along with world U20 3000m champion Aleshign Baweke, Alem Tsadik and Lemlem Nibret, who finished fifth and then eighth in the past two world U20 cross-country races.

Uganda has claimed a team medal in four of the past five editions and should be a strong force again. Joy Cheptoyek, who won the national championships in Mbale in November and finished seventh in the world 10,000m final in Tokyo, leads the team alongside Sarah Chelangat, who placed fifth in Belgrade two years ago.

Cheptoyek won the national title by 26 seconds, finishing ahead of Rispa Cherop, Kereen Chemusto and Martha Chemutai. The trio also feature on the team alongside national 10,000m champion Rebecca Chelangat.

Weini Kelati Frezghi decided to extend her cross-country career in an attempt to secure a host nation team place in Tallahassee and it paid off as the 29-year-old won the trial race in Portland in December. It was redemption of sorts following her fourth-place finishes in both the 5000m and 10,000m at the US Championships, which saw her narrowly miss qualifying for the World Championships in Tokyo.

“I thought that last year was going to be my last cross-country race,” said Kelati Frezghi, who finished 14th at the 2024 World Cross Country Championships and 21st at the 2023 edition, “but when I heard that the World Cross Country Championships were going to be in the US, I thought ‘why not try to make the team and represent USA and show the world we can be competitive’.”

The first six athletes in that race in Portland made the host nation team, including runner-up Katie Izzo, who ran as part of the mixed relay team in Belgrade in 2024, and Ednah Kurgat, who was USA’s top finisher at the 2023 World Cross in 18th place.

Others to watch at the Apalachee Regional Park include Great Britain’s European cross-country silver medallist Megan Keith and Burundi’s Francine Niyomukunzi, who regularly competes on the Cross Country Tour and won last year’s Gold race in Albufeira. Australia’s Lauren Ryan finished ninth, one place ahead of Keith, in the world 10,000m final in Tokyo and the pair will meet again in Tallahassee.