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Twell beats top seniors in Spain
Britain's European junior cross country champion enjoys big victory abroad
ONE week after winning the European junior cross country title in Italy, 17-year-old Steph Twell beat world-class seniors at the Catalunya International meeting in Granollers, Barcelona, on Sunday.
UK Athletics has reported that the young Briton appeared to have blown her chances in the women’s 6km race when she lost a 50m lead to the favourite, Habtemariam Nebiat (Eritrea), who finished 16th in the 2003 World Cross Country Championships and has already enjoyed successes in previous races in Spain this winter.
But when Nebiat looked set to strike with 500m to go, it was young Twell who stunned the crowd by finding the stronger finish. She crossed the line in 20 minutes 37 seconds to win by four seconds.
Twell’s coach, Mick Woods, manager at the UK Athletics Endurance Performance Centre at St Mary’s University Twickenham, told UKA: “She has learnt a massive lesson. She got excited when she built a 50-metre lead with 2.5km still to go.
“She began to struggle but she has a really good racing head on her shoulders and she didn’t panic when Nebiat caught her and hit the front. She responded very well and her finish was just as powerful as last week’s at the Europeans. To win against a quality field like this has been a huge experience for
Steph.”
* Thanks to UKA for info.
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