IAAF World Cross Country Championships
The World Cross Country Championships (official name IAAF World Cross Country Championships ) are athletic competitions, which are organized by the IAAF since 1973. Here, every two years to determine ( 1973-2011 year), the world champion in cross-country running.
The forerunner of today's World Cross Country Championships was the Cross of Nations (International Cross Country Championships ), which was carried out since 1903 by the International Cross Country Union ( ICCU ) and, apart from two interruptions by the world wars, took place on an annual basis until 1972.
For men, for women and for Juniors - At first, the world championships of three races existed. 1989 race for juniors was introduced, and from 1998 to 2006 for men and women each have a short distance of about 4 km in the program.
The distances of the competitions are currently the following:
- Men: about 12 km
- Women: about 8 km
- Juniors: about 8 km
- Junior Women: about 6 km
For all events, there is also a team score for the participating nations in the in the men's rankings of the top six, best three runners of each nation will be added at the women of the best four and at the Junior Men and Junior Women (provided at least as many participants from one country have reached the goal ) and that with the lowest score wins.
Two German athletes have so far won a medal: Detlef Uhlemann took bronze in 1977 and Hans-Jürgen Orthmann 1980 silver, both for the FRG.