Moroccans dominate 20th WUC Cross Country Podium
The 20th FISU World University Cross Country Championship 2016, hosted in Cassino, Italy on 12 March has been a successful event. A total of 124 athletes representing 19 delegations from 5 continents competed at the event while hundreds of people attended the race. In the men’s individual race, Moroccan athletes have crushed their opponents dominating the podium. Hicham Amghar has covered the distance (7 laps of 1,500 meters) in 33 minutes and 46 seconds. His compatriot Reda Jaafar reached the second step of the podium with only three seconds difference. The bronze medal went to Ben Youssef Had, also from Morocco, who clocked 33 minutes and 51 seconds. Morocco has also won first place in the men’s team awarding. Japan and Turkey ranked second and third respectively in the men’s team awarding.
In the women’s team awarding, the Italian Team reached the third place behind the United Kingdom (silver medal) and Japan (gold medal). In the women’s individual championship (4 laps of 1,500 meters) Sevilay Eytemis from Turkey ranked first covering the distance in 21 minutes and 57 seconds. Second and third place went to Japanese athletes Moeno Shimizu (22 minutes) and Maki Izumida (22 minutes and 1 second) respectively.
At the Closing Ceremony, the FISU flag was handed to Switzerland, which will host the 21st WUC Cross Country in St. Gallen in 2018.