Tergat challenges younger athletes to use Cross Country as career stepping stone
.jpg)
Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 10.01.26. | 14:44
Saturday’s event in Tallahassee, sees the United States host the Championships for the third time
Former World Athletics Cross Country champion Paul Tergat has reinforced the importance of the global event and the discipline, as the 2026 edition set for Saturday, 10 January kicks off an action-packed international calendar.
Follow Our WhatsApp Channel For More News
The Championship is the first of six World Athletics Series events taking place in 2026, a year that will also feature the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest in September and the new World Treadmill Championship.
Saturday’s event in Tallahassee, Florida, sees the United States host the Championships for the third time, following editions in New York in 1984 and Boston in 1992. It will feature more than 450 athletes as they compete for individual and team titles across a programme of five races.
A five-time world cross-country champion, Tergat who won his titles back-to-back between 1995 and 1999 credits the discipline for his illustrious career.
"Cross country is such a unique event. It is where some of us built our careers, through cross country. Winning five times in a row was a major milestone in my career," Tergat, speaking at the press conference, at the Apalachee Regional Park, offered.
With world champion Jimmy Gressier of France also speaking at the press conference, Tergat was asked about Gressier’s performance in Tokyo, one that saw him win the 10,000m by just six hundredths of a second, and if it reminded him of his own fierce battles.
“It gave me memories of what it used to be in 2000, at the Olympic Games, between me and Haile Gebrselassie,” Tergat said. “This is what sport is all about. Between me and Haile, we were fighting when it came to the competition, but immediately after that, we would hug each other and say we'll meet the next day. Sport is an opportunity to bring people together, for generations. I'm very proud that I have been part of the sport for many years, and I'm still able to see what the sport has given to the newer generations like these guys who are competing tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe reiterated the former National Olympics Committee of Kenya boss' sentiments saying the discipline is a World Athletics pillar.
“The local organising committee has really set some extraordinary standards here,” said Coe. “Thank you to our local dignitaries and thank you to Tallahassee for being such gracious hosts."
He continues, "Cross country is one of the core pillars of our sport. I joined the World Athletics Council in 2003 and from that moment, I've been pushing the cause of cross country. It's an inseparable part of the journey that distance and endurance athletes make."
.jpg)
