A Brief History...
by Phil
Minshull
1973 - 1974 - 1975 - 1976 - 1977 - 1978 - 1979 - 1980 - 1981 - 1982 - 1983 - 1984 - 1985 - 1986 - 1987 - 1988 - 1989 - 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994 - 1995 - 1996
1973
Waragerm, Belgium: Despite
the legacy of Nurmi, Ritola and Viren, Pekka
Paivarinta becomes the first and, to date, the
only Finn to win the World Cross Country title.
The Turku caretaker overhauled Spain’s
Mariano Haro in the final sprint for the line to
win by one tenth of a second. Paivarinta is also
the only man ever to have won the world title
wearing a hat. He always wore a red cap to keep
his long hair out of his eyes!
Italy’s Pigni and
Scotland’s Jim Brown are convincing winners
of the women’s and junior men’s races.
1974
Monza, Italy: The ecstatic
home crowd are treated to an Italian victory when
Paola Pigni retains her title, winning by 40
metres. Belgium’s Erik De Beck becomes one
of the most surprising winners in the history of the event when he beats the
luckless Haro by a second.
Perhaps De Beck’s
triumph would have been less unexpected had it
been widely known that he was being coached by
the old master himself, Gaston Roelants. Rich
Kimball, from the USA, takes the junior
men’s race.
1975
Rabat, Morocco: Mariano
Haro has to settle for second place yet again as
Scotland’s Ian Stewart uses his track speed
to great effect on the soft and sandy course. In
his three World Cross defeats, Haro was denied a
title by a total of less than three seconds.
American runners Julie
Brown, just 20, and Bob Thomas are the
women’s and junior men’s champions.
1976
 Chepstow, Wales: Carmen Valero
becomes the first Spanish woman to achieve a
major international victory. She beats the Soviet
Union’s Tatyana Kazankina, soon to make her
name as a phenomenal middle distance runner, by
20 seconds.
Portugal’s Carlos
Lopes wins the senior men’s race and Eric
Hulst continues the run of success for the US
junior men.
1977
Dusseldorf, Germany: Leon
Schots continues the Belgian tradition and also
leads his country to the team title with a five
second margin over Lopes.
Valero retained her
women’s title by just holding off the Soviet
Union’s Lyudmila Bragina, the 1972 Olympic
1500m champion. Thom Hunt won the junior
men’s title to give the USA its fourth
consecutive victory.
1978
 Glasgow, Scotland: In appallingly
muddy conditions, Norway’s Grete Waitz wins
the first of her five titles by putting 30
seconds between her and Romania’s Natalia
Marasescu. The latter gets some consolation when
Romania’s women achieve their country’s
one and only team triumph.
Ireland’s John Treacy
gets his first gold medal while England’s
Micky Morton takes the junior men’s title, a
race in which a certain Said Aouita finishes
37th.
1979
Limerick, Ireland: John
Treacy triumphed, once more in the mud, and in
front of a delighted home crowd. Inspired by the
support, he wins by nine seconds from
Poland’s future Olympic steeplechase
champion Bronislaw Malinowski.
Grete Waitz wins by an even
bigger margin, 26 seconds, for her second gold
medal, while Belgium’s Eddie DePauw took the
junior men’s race.
1980
Paris, France: Craig Virgin
became the first ever American winner of the
men’s race after a dramatic final 200 metres
when he moved from third to first, beating
Germany’s Hans-Jurgen Orthmann by just a
second.
By contrast, Grete Waitz
has the biggest margin in the history of the
women’s race, 44 seconds to acquire her
third title. Spain’s Jose Garcia is the
junior men’s winner.
1981
Madrid, Spain: Ethiopian
and Kenyan runners make their debuts at the event
but inexperience shows. Mohammed Kedir miscounts
and makes his effort one lap too early, leaving
the way for Craig Virgin to capture his second
title. Kedir has enough in reserve to secure
second place and help take the team title. Kenya
finish third to start an East African domination
of the team race that persists to this day.
Grete Waitz wins her fourth
women’s title while Tunisia’s Mohammed
Chouri becomes the first African to take the
junior men’s title. Behind him,
Belgium’s Vincent Rousseau finishes seventh,
The Italians Salvatore Antibo and Panetta are
eighth and ninth and Spain’s Abel Anton is
17th.
1982
 Rome,
Italy: Kedir makes no errors this time and takes
the men’s race five seconds ahead of the
USA’s Alberto Salazar, who had led most of
the way.
Africa figure at both ends
of the men’s race since Libya’s Selwan
Philemone finishes in 167th position, nearly five
minutes adrift of the man in front of him.
Romania’s Maricica
Puica ends Grete Waitz’s reign as the queen
of cross country and Zurubachew Gelaw makes it an
Ethiopian double by winning the junior men’s
race in which Spain’s Martin Fiz, who more
than a decade later won the marathon at the World
Championships, finishes 16th.
1983
 Gateshead, England: Ethiopia’s
Bekele Debele becomes the youngest winner in the
IAAF era. Only eight days after his 20th
birthday, he prevails in the closest finish ever.
Portugal’s Carlos Lopes and Kenya’s
Some Muge, the silver and bronze medallist, are
both given the same time as Debele.
Grete Waitz regained her
women’s crown and Ethiopia’s Fesha
Abebe takes the junior men’s title.
1984
New York, USA: Maricica
Puica regains her women’s title and, after
eight years, Carlos Lopes stands on top of the
medal podium again.
Spain’s Pierre
Casacuberta overtakes Ethiopia’s Doju
Tessema 150 metres from the line to become the
last man outside East Africa to win the junior
men’s race.
1985
Lisbon, Portugal: Carlos
Lopes defies the odds and wins by four seconds
from Kenya’s Paul Kipkoech in front of an
ecstatic home crowd. Ethiopia wins its fifth
consecutive men’s team title but, ominously,
Kenya are a very close second.
England’s Zola Budd
wins the women’s race by 23 seconds, running
barefoot, while Kenya’s first individual
title was achieved by Kip Kimeli who won the
junior men’s race by an impressive 19
seconds.
1986
Neuchatel, Switzerland:
Kenya’s John Ngugi wins the first of his
numerous victories on his first appearance in
Europe. Ngugi shared the lead in the final stages
with Ethiopia’s Abebe Mekonnen before
pulling away to win  by two seconds. Kenya wins its first
ever senior men’s team title.
Zola Budd retains her
women’s title, again running barefoot
despite the slippery conditions, while
Ethiopia’s Melesse Feyisa takes the junior
men’s race.
1987
 Warsaw, Poland: Annette Sergent
becomes the first French individual winner for 22
years. Sergent beats Scotland’s Liz Lynch,
later McColgan, by just two seconds. Curiously,
this is the widest margin of the day.
Ngugi wins his second title
from compatriot Paul Kipkoech, although both are
given the same time, and a similar finish to the
junior men’s race sees Kenya’s Wilfred
Kirochi given the verdict over Ethiopia’s
Demeke Bekele.
1988
Auckland, New Zealand: The
first ever World Championships in the Southern
Hemisphere sees Ingrid Kristiansen win gold to
make her the only woman ever to have held major
track, road and cross country titles
simultaneously.
Ngugi again defeats
Kipkoech but this time the margin, at 22 seconds,
was more emphatic. Wilfred Kirochi also defends
his junior men’s title.
1989
 Stavangar, Norway: Ngugi wins a
record fourth consecutive race in the Norwegian
mud, winning by 28 seconds from Britain’s
Tim Hutchings. Sweden’s Malin Ewerlof
crosses the line first in the inaugural junior
women’s race but Kenya takes the team prize.
Ethiopia’s Addis Abebe
wins the junior men’s race and, with Ingrid
Kristiansen deciding not to defend her title on
home soil, Annette Sergent wins the women’s
title for the second time.
1990
 Aix-les-Bains, France:
Morocco’s Khalid Skah brings an end to
Ngugi’s reign, outsprinting Kenya’s
Moses Tanui. Lynn Jennings, from the USA, finally
gets her gold medal, leaving Portugal’s
Albertina Dias 12 seconds behind.
Kenya’s Kibiego
Kororia and China’s Liu Shixang win the
junior races, the latter signalling the start of
China’s assault on women’s long
distance running.
1991
 Antwerp, Belgium: Skah and Jennings
retain their titles in impressive fashion as
Andrew Sambu gets Tanzania’s first ever
World Championship gold medal by winning the
junior men’s race.
Kenya’s Lydia Cheromei
wins the junior women’s race at the age of
13, the youngest ever winner of an IAAF gold
medal.
1992
 Boston, USA: On a snow covered
course Ngugi enters the history books with his
fifth victory. Jennings, in front of her home
fans, becomes the second women after Grete Waitz
to win three consecutive titles. Kenya’s
Ismael Kirui wins the junior men’s title
from Ethiopia’ Haile Gebrselassie, both
runners soon to make a huge impact on the senior
ranks. Britain’s Paula Radcliffe becomes a
rare European winner in the Junior Women’s
race, with China’s Wang Junxia finishing
second.
1993
 Amorebieta, Spain: Kenya takes three
of the individual races and all four team titles.
William Sigei wins the senior men’s with
Kenyans filling the first five places. Philip
Mosima and Gladys Ondeyo take the junior titles.
Albertina Dias spoils the sequence by winning the
women’s race.
1994
Budapest, Hungary: Kenyan
again nearly empties the trophy cabinet. Sigei
and Mosima retain their men’s titles while
Hellen Chepngeno wins Kenya’ first ever
senior women’s title. Sally Barsosio, who
had already won a World Championship 10,000m
bronze medal at the age of 15, takes the junior
title with compatriots Rose Cheruiyot and
Elizabeth Cheptanui winning silver and bronze. By
winning the team title Portugal’s senior
women break the monotony.
1995
Durham, Great Britain:
Ethiopia’s Derartu Tulu, the Olympic 1992
10,000m champion, defeats Ireland’s
Catherina McKiernan after an enthralling tussle.
McKiernan has to settle for her fourth
consecutive silver medal.
Paul Tergat continues the
Kenyan domination of the senior men’s race
and Kenya take all four team titles.
Ethiopia’s Assefa Mezegebu and
Finland’s Annemari Sandell avoid a complete
Kenyan monopoly by taking the junior titles.
1996
 Cape Town, South Africa: Tergat
retains his title after a well calculated team
effort. Ethiopia’s Gete Wami and Kutre
Dulecha are surprise winners of the women’s
races. Kenya’s David Chelule defeats the
defending champion Mezegebu in the junior
men’s race, the first of many duels over the
following twelve months.
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