For the first time since 1992, a world cross country championship will be on American soil and Tallahassee will serve as the host when the 2026 kicks off on Saturday.
The 46th World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the first major event of the year and across five races, the best the globe has to offer will battle in a mix of all conditions as Kenya looks to repeat as team champion.
Meanwhile two-time men’s senior champion Jacob Kiplimo is poised to win his third straight gold on Saturday as he leads Uganda, while a new women’s senior winner will be crowed in the absence of Beatrice Chebet. But Agnes Ngetich, her Kenyan countrywoman, is ready to carve out her own place at the top of the podium in Tallahassee.
What awaits the competitors at Apalachee Regional Park will be a daunting array of sand, water, mud and a “rollercoaster” features that is designed to inject a sense of the unexpected with numerous titles on the line.
There are 52 nations entered across each event with 485 athletes and reserves set to make their mark as some rising talents will likely be a deciding factor in all of the races.
In the men’s senior race, all eyes will be on whether Kiplimo, 25, will surge to another title and add to a young career that has already seen major marathon and Olympic success. A win would put him in rare company with John Ngugi, Paul Tergat, and Kenenisa Bekele as the only men with three straight wins.
But after falling just short as the runner up of the last two world championships, Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi might find his breakout moment on Saturday even as a newer crop of upstarts launch their own campaigns to fight through the elements to win. However his own teammates, Bereket Nega, Tadese Worku and Hagos Eyob are not only in a position to boost the squad to an overall title, but they can also stand in Aregawi’s way to finally clinch gold.
Kenya has won the last two team titles and will be a major part of the conversation on Saturday with Daniel Ebenyo leading the way as Denis Kemboi Shadrack Koech and Kevin Chesang are set to rely on pure strategy to finish close together.
The women’s senior race will see a new champion with Chebet out of the picture but Ngetich, the world record-holder in the 10K, can upgrade her third place finish from 2023 even with her teammate Maurine Chebor looking to play the role of spoiler. They form a Kenyan lineup that will be back by Brenda Jepchumba Kenei, Joyline Chepkemoi, Caren Chebet and Rebecca Mwangi set to win their third straight women’s team title.
Kenya or Ethiopia have captured the women’s team championship every year since 1995 and the task of any other nation dethroning either seems like a daunting task. Senayet Getachew, Asayech Ayichew, Aleshign Baweke, Shure Demise, Lemelem Nibret and Alem Tsadik form a reloaded Ethiopia team with Ayichew and Baweke stepping up from the junior ranks.
Start times
9:45 a.m. – Mixed Relay
10:20 a.m. – Women’s U20 Race
10:55 a.m. – Men’s U20 Race
11:35 a.m. – Women’s Senior Race
12:20 a.m. – Men’s Senior
How To Watch
The event will be streamed live on Saturday, January 10 on Peacock beginning at 9:35 a.m. with an additional live broadcast on CNBC beginning at 10:00 a.m.
All times Eastern
