The first FISU medals of 2026 have found their winners!

Student-athletes from all five continents and from 10 different countries ran their way to the cross country podiums on 14-15 March in Cassino, Italy.

The 2026 FISU World University Championship season has officially started, with two days of intense competition in the south of Italy, on the beautiful grounds of the University of Cassino.

258 student-athletes from 27 countries and all five continent ran over the Italian fields in he hope of climbing onto the podiums.

Sun, sweat and smiles

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Overall, France seemed to feel at home in Italy, winning three gold medals and one bronze. Clara Entresangle and Oscar Thebaud both finishing first of the opening events, the women’s and men’s short races. Spain also performed well on the short distances, winning one silver and two bronze as well as finishing first in the men’s final and second in the women’s final. Sky Ellis from Australia (silver, women’s short race), was the only non-European on the short distance individual podiums.

Spain and Italy did amazingly well collectively, Spain winning the men’s team final and coming second in the women’s, while Italy did the opposite, winning the women’s and getting silver in the men. The bronze medals went to Canada (women’s) and France (men’s).

The results

Women’s Short Race – 3km

• 🥇 Clara Entresangle (FRA)
• 🥈 Skye Ellis (AUS)
• 🥉 Marta Serrano Azpiazu (ESP)

Women’s Team

• 🥇 Italy (Arianna Algeri – Valeria Minati)
• 🥈 Spain (Marta Serrano Azpiazu – Maria Forero Pérez)
• 🥉 Canada (Caroline Ash – Marisha Thompson)

Men’s Short Race – 3km

• 🥇 Oscar Thebaud (FRA)
• 🥈 Martin Segurola Larrinaga (ESP)
• 🥉 Alejandro Quijada Sanchez (ESP)

Men’s Team

• 🥇 Spain (Adam Maijo Frigola – Alejandro Quijada Sanchez)
• 🥈 Italy (Matteo Bardea – Carmelo Cannizzaro)
• 🥉 France (Noé Daviaud – Anatole Berthou)

Three continents on the long distance podiums

Two medals for Uganda (gold and bronze in the men’s category thanks to Elisha Yeko and Solomon Cherotwo) and two for Japan (bronze in the women’s long race for Amisa Murayama and silver in the men’s category for Hiromichi Nonaka) will be travelling back to Africa and Asia. Home country Italy claimed its first individual title thanks to Lucia Arnoldo who finished first of the 10km race in 32:20.00, in front of Türkiye’s Nursena Murayama.

The results

Women’s Long Race – 10 km

• 🥇 Lucia Arnoldo (ITA)
• 🥈 Nursena Ceto (TUR)
• 🥉 Amisa Murayama (JPN)

Men’s Long Race – 10 km

• 🥇 Elisha Yeko (UGA)
• 🥈 Hiromichi Nonaka (JPN)
• 🥉 Solomon Cherotwo (UGA)

Thrilling relays on the second day

It was time for relays on Sunday 15 March. With two new nations adding their flags to the medal table, as Belgium struck gold in the short mixed relay and Germany won bronze. Italy added the silver to its growing collection.

The long mixed relay went to France, who managed to win both the opening and closing competitions, in front of Spain and Italy.

The results

Short Mixed Relay

• 🥇 Belgium (Marie Bilo, Laure Bilo, Lennert Dewulf, Matthias Loeys)
• 🥈 Italy (Melissa Fracassini, Valeria Minati, Thomas Serafini, Konjoneh Maggi)
• 🥉 Germany (Katja Bäuerle, Adia Budde, Felix Wittmann, Tobias Tent)

Long Mixed Relay

• 🥇 France (Célia Robin, Zoé Bourhis, Martin Perrin, Noé Daviaud)
• 🥈 Spain (Claudia Corral Hodar, Ambar Tomas Ojda, Jaime Migallon Estringana, Alejandro Quijada Sanchez)
• 🥉 Italy (Diletta Moressa, Chiara Munaretto, Maudo Della Piccola, Matteo Bardea)

Country Challenge Trophy: Awarded to the best overall delegation combining all individual and relay results. You can find the detailed results here.

• 🥇 Spain
• 🥈 Italy
• 🥉 Canada

FISU Secretary General and CEO Matthias Remund and FISU Executive Committee Vice-President Verena Burk were both present in Italy for this first FISU World University Championship. “Such an event could not take place without teamwork, enthusiasm and friendship, all of which we saw in action during the event”, concluded Verena Burk. “The organising committee and volunteers showed endless effort, hard work, patience and goodwill towards everyone involved. Thank you very much for your fantastic work.”

Cross Country at the next Changchun 2027 Winter Universiade

For the first time, cross country will be part of the winter sports on the programme of the next Changchun 2027 Winter Universiade in China. It will be really interesting to see how these student-athletes adapt to the cold conditions from 15-25 January.

Congratulations to all the medallists, student-athletes, participants, members of the organising committee and volunteers for a great kick off event. The next event will be the Gothenburg 2026 FISU World University Championship Cheerleading from 3-5 June in Sweden.