News Archive

Sergiy Lebid has issued a warning to his rivals at the SPAR European Cross

Country Championships on Sunday that he will be arriving in Tilburg in

top form. “My training in the last month has gone very well,” said

Lebid, speaking from his home in Pridneprovsk prior to joining up with

the rest of the Ukraine team traveling to the Netherlands.

“My training has been very much the same as in previous years. I am not

going to say I am going to win – that could bring me bad luck – but

everything has been good.

“For the last week I have been at home, finishing off my preparations, and

before that I was at Kislovodsk in Russia, which is at altitude in the Caucasus mountains.

“I was there for three weeks putting in a lot of miles.  I was

running on my own as I have found in the past that having training

partners hinders me and can hold me back, especially when I am training

well and feeling very strong.”

Lebid was not worried about the possibility of very cold conditions at the

Championships on Sunday. With regard to the likely conditions in

Tilburg, Lebid says that “the colder, the better”. He added: “I’ve

never had a problem with the cold. I have problems when it gets warm

although that situation affects me more often in the summer than the

winter.”

Lebid normally doesn’t race prior to the Championships. “I don’t like

to run before the Championships. For me they are the start of the

season not the middle,” he said.

Lebid will be seeking his sixth European cross country crown in

Tilburg, and his fifth consecutive title. He will also be extending his

unique feat amongst the men of having competed in every edition of the

European Cross Country Championships.

Only Belgium’s Anja Smolders among the women runners can boast of a similar

accomplishment.