Laadjel battles hard in European U23s

Abdel Laadjel went into the European Under 23 cross-country championships at Laeken Park in Brussels on Sunday with justifiable expectations of finishing in the top 10 following his excellent 4th place in the Euro Under 23s over 10,000m at Helsinki last July.

79 athletes and 15 national teams lined up for the 7,000m race run over 5 laps of challenging, muddy underfoot terrain with lots of sharp bends.

Laadjel made an encouraging start being in 14th position at the 500m mark.

However, cumulative fatigue from his excellent NCAA cross-country season meant that the Donore Harriers athlete found it hard to keep pace with the leading athletes as he became more and more adrift of his top-10 target.

By the halfway mark he had slipped back to 46th, and it ultimately became more of a survival encounter than a contest as he became more heavy-legged.

He battled on to the finish line reached in 51st place in a time of 25.25.

Abdel Laadjel after the U23 European cross country championships Photo by Paul Simon

Laadjel was the 4th home of the 6 Irish finishers – and the team placed 10th.

The race was won by Will Barnicoat (23.42) of Great Britain, with GB winning the team gold.

One positive for Abdel is that he still has two years remaining in the age grade, so watch this space!