At the IAAF World Cross Country Championships last year in Bydgoszcz, Kenya won all individual and team gold medals available. Such stunning dominance was not repeated in Punta Umbria on Sunday, as Ethiopia got among the medals more than last year, but Kenya still emerged as the No.1 cross country nation quite comfortably.

Kenya won gold in every individual and team category in Punta Umbria apart from two. The junior women’s team title went to Ethiopia, while the blue ribbon men’s individual crown was won by Imane Merga of Ethiopia.

Elsewhere, the stories of the championships included a bronze medal-winning run by Shalane Flanagan of the United States in the senior women’s race. Despite being hit by a tsunami and earthquake this month, Japan not only sent a big team to Spain but was rewarded with team bronze in the junior women’s race. The British team, who also supported the event with a big squad, also went home smiling.

Charlotte Purdue excelled with 14th place in the senior women’s race, leading the GB team to fifth. Other highlights included Emelia Gorecka finishing 15th in the junior women’s race, with the under-20 GB team fifth.

Racing in sweltering conditions on flat and fast course, many athletes struggled. In the junior men’s race, Tom Curr of Britain collapsed after the race and had to be covered in ice packs so he could cool down. Some of the senior men’s competitors also had a post-race punch up, which illustrated how raised the temperatures were.

Merga takes men’s title

Naturally, though, the winners looked cool as ice. Merga, who was fourth in the 2009 world 10,000m final, demonstrated his 12:53 5000m speed by outkicking a phalanx of Kenyans. Passing lapped runners in the final stages of the 12km race on the twisting, 2km course, Merga saw off Paul Tanui, Vincent Chepkok, Mathew Kipsorio and Geoffrey Mutai to win by two seconds.

In sixth, Stephen Kiprotich led Uganda to team bronze medals. To the delight of the host nation, Ayad Lamdassem of Spain was first European in 16th. Given this, it would have been interesting to have seen how Mo Farah would have fared, although Lamdassem was a whopping 82 seconds behind Merga.

“I was running to win,” said Merga, who follows in the footsteps of other Ethiopian men’s winners such as Kenenisa Bekele. “I came here wanting the gold from the beginning and was confident that I could do it.”

In Farah’s absence, Andy Vernon was 58th, Tom Humphries 64th, Luke Gunn 73rd, James Walsh 77th, Ryan McLeod 83rd and Derek Hawkins 91st. Vernon and Humphries were both troubled by injuries and didn’t enjoy a great run. Gunn, the UK steeplechase No.1, said the logs that athletes had to hurdle were more troublesome over 12km than the bigger barriers he faces on the track. “They seemed to get bigger every lap, too,” he said.

Cheruiyot cruises to first senior gold

Vivian Cheruiyot and Linet Masai broke away in the latter stages of the women’s race to give Kenya and one-two on the podium and an inevitable team gold. Cheruiyot, 27, is a former winner of the junior women’s title but has not won gold before in the senior event.

Flanagan’s bronze medal, however, was one of the stories of the day. The 29-year-old led the US team to team bronze, too, and will now prepare for the 10,000m at the World Championships in Daegu before targeting the US Olympic marathon trials prior to London 2012.

Backed up by Molly Huddle in 17th, Magdalena Lewy-Boulet and Blake Russell in 17th-19th, it proved Western runners can mix it with Africans. Purdue, meanwhile, was beaming after her 14th place in her first senior race. “My coach Mick Woods told me I could finish 15th,” she said. “It seemed too high, but when he says something then I believe it.”

Hatti Dean in 21st, Stevie Stockton in 37th and Naomi Taschimowitz in 46th gave Purdue great back up. Gemma Steel in 54th and Julia Bleasdale in 59th also ran solidly.

Kipsang upsets Koech in junior men’s race

Geoffrey Kipsang ran powerfully from the front to win the junior men’s race by six seconds from Ugandan Thomas Ayeko. In a race dominated by Africans like no other, Jonny Hay of Britain ran superbly to finish first European in 39th. Like Purdue, he is coached by Woods and he said the great British support on the course, including Woods, helped spur him on to such a pleasing performance.

There were mixed fortunes for the Brits behind, with Ross Matheson 53rd, Ben Connor 67th, Richard Goodman 71st, Ian Bailey 72nd and Tom Curr, struggling in the heat, 95th.

Kipyegon returns from brutal injury to win junior women’s title

Faith Kipyegon won the junior women’s race from a trio of Ethiopians. This followed a big story in the Kenyan press in January which involved her missing training due to a back injury after being caned by her teacher at school.

Gorecka in 15th led British athletes Annabel Gummow in 22nd, Louise Small in 29th, Georgia Peel in 40th, Beth Carter in 45th and Ruth Haynes in 66th. In addition to being first European, Gorecka also beat US champion Aisling Cuffe, who finished 17th. Although perhaps the biggest smiles of the day went to the Japanese bronze medal winning team led by Katsuki Suga and Tomoka Kimura in 12th and 13th.

There were question marks over whether all the Japanese team would be able to travel to Spain. But when the tsunami hit their country the team was already in a pre-World Cross holding camp just outside of Tokyo, so their plans were not disrupted.

With the championships reverting to a biennial event, the next global gathering will be in 2013, with the 2010 hosts Bydgoszcz likely to stage the championships again. After that, Bahrain is one of the few countries showing a keen interest in holding it.

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» See the March 24 issue of Athletics Weekly for at least 10 pages of coverage from the World Cross, including reports of every race, behind-the-scenes news, photographs and full results.