The 2015

IAAF World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the In ...

() was the 41st edition of the global championships in

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

, organised by the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international governing body for the sport of athletics, coverin ...

. It was held in

Guiyang Guiyang; Mandarin pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively as Kweiyang is the capital of Guizhou, Guizhou province in China. It is centrally located within the province, on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, eastern part of the Yun ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

on 28 March. It was the first time that the event was held in China, and the third occasion it took place in Asia (after

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

in 2006, and

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

in 2009). Senior and junior races were held for men and women, with the four races having both a team and individual element.

Overview

The senior individual titles were won by Kenyan athletes.

Geoffrey Kipsang Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor (born 22 November 1992) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner. He won the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. Kamworor claimed victories at the World Half Marathon Ch ...

, a former junior champion and reigning world half marathon champion, took the men's title by a margin of eight seconds. The 19-year-old Agnes Jebet Tirop was the women's champion, establishing herself as a senior athlete for the first time after her runner-up finish in the junior race at the 2013 edition. This made her the second youngest ever winner of that title, after

Zola Budd Zola Budd (also known as Zola Pieterse; born 26 May 1966) is a South African Middle-distance running, middle-distance and Long-distance running, long-distance runner. She competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 Olympic Games for Great Britain ...

in 1985. Aside from these victories, it was Ethiopia that had the most success: Yasin Haji and

Letesenbet Gidey Letesenbet Gidey ( Tigrinya: ለተሰንበት ግደይ, born 20 March 1998) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. In the 10,000 metres, she is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, 2019 World silver medallist, and 2022 World champion. H ...

were crowned the junior champions while the Ethiopian teams won the senior titles and had a clean sweep in the women's junior race. Bahrain was the only non-East African nation to win a medal, albeit with teams of entirely African expatriates. The host choice reflected the increasing prominence of China in the world of

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

. Having only staged one major IAAF event before 2006, the country quickly rose to host the 2006 World Junior Championships, the 2008 Olympic athletics, 2010 World Half Marathon Championships, and

2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 2014 World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships, IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held in Taicang, China, on 3–4 May 2014. The course was a 2 km loop along Shanghai Road between Banjing Road and Loujiang Road in the centre of the ci ...

. The cross country event preceded Beijing's holding of the

2015 World Championships in Athletics The 2015 IAAF World Championships ( zh, 第十五届世界田径锦标赛), the fifteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 22 to 30 August at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. Forty-three nations won medals, 144 of ...

later that year. The course for the competition was a former

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

course around 30 km from the city centre, which had hosted the

Asian Cross Country Championships The Asian Cross Country Championships is a biennial regional cross country running competition for athletes from Asia. It is organised by the Asian Athletics Association and was first held in 1991 in Fukuoka, Japan. The competition has been held ...

in 2005 as well as ten editions of the

Chinese Cross Country Championships Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

. In addition to the main competition, mass participation races over 2 km and 4 km were held in the morning before the official opening ceremony, aimed at improving public engagement in the sport.Mills, Steven (2015-03-27)
Guiyang capitalises on being IAAF World Cross Country Championships host
IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-03-28.

Preparation

In the year before the competition, the

Guiyang International Half Marathon Guiyang; Mandarin pronunciation: ; alternatively as Kweiyang is the capital of Guizhou province in China. It is centrally located within the province, on the eastern part of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, and sits on the north bank of the Nanmi ...

was inaugurated, increasing local running participation. This added to the history of athletics in the region, which included a long-running Guiyang road race in its 44th edition that year. The 2015 Chinese national championships a month before the global event were not contested at the same course, instead being held in

Qujing Qujing ( zh, c= , p=Qūjìng) is a prefecture-level city in the east of Yunnan province, China, bordering Guizhou province to the north and east and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to the south; thus, it was called "Key between Yunnan and Gui ...

Zhang Xinyan Zhang Xinyan ( zh, s=张新艳, t=張新艷, hp=Zhāng Xīnyàn; born 9 February 1994) is a Chinese runner competing in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She represented her country at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing without qualifying for ...

won both the women's long and short course titles, while

Zhu Renxue Zhu Renxue (; born April 6, 1991, in Huize, Yunnan) is a Chinese male marathoner. He took the 3rd place at the Chongqing International Marathon and the Olympic trials on March 21, 2016, Zhu was eligible for Rio 2016 Olympic marathon The mara ...

and

Wang Ligang Wang may refer to: Names * Wang (surname) (王), a common Chinese surname * Wāng (汪), a less common Chinese surname * Titles in Chinese nobility * A title in Korean nobility * A title in Mongolian nobility Places * Wang River in Thailand ...

won the men's long and short races, respectively.

Schedule

All four races were held in the afternoon in the usual traditional, with junior races preceding the senior races, and the senior men's event concluding the programme.

Medallists

Results

Senior men's race

*111 entrants, 110 starters, 108 finishers. *Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result.

Senior women's race

*83 entrants, 82 starters, 80 finishers. *Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result.

Junior men's race

*118 entrants, 118 starters, 113 finishers. *Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result.

Junior women's race

*101 entrants, 100 starters, 87 finishers. *Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result.

Medal table

*Note: Totals include both individual and team medals, with medals in the team competition counting as one medal.

Participation

A total of 410 athletes from 51 countries participated, excluding non-starters. This represented an increase of ten nations from the previous edition and thirteen additional participating athletes in total.IAAF World Cross Country Championships Guiyang 2015 Facts & Figures
IAAF (2015). Retrieved on 2015-03-28.

References

External links

Official websiteIAAF competition website
{{World championships in 2015

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

International athletics competitions hosted by China

World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the In ...

Guiyang Sport in Guizhou Cross country running in China March 2015 sports events in China