Unusual date and far-flung venue mean Brits will pick world cross country champs team from performances at the Euro Cross one month earlier

We might be in the middle of the summer and the World Cross Country Championships is still more than five months away, but UK Athletics quietly published its selection policy for the event this month.

With the event taking place on January 10 in Tallahassee, Florida – as opposed to its traditional end-of-March date – the big question was always going to be: when and where will the British trial be held for an event that happens so early in the new year?

The answer is that there won’t be an official trial.

The European Cross Country Championships in Portugal on December 14, however, will effectively be used as the British trial with the top two senior men and women earning automatic selection for Tallahassee if they finish in the top 12. The same will be the case for leading under-20 athletes if they come in the top six in Portugal.

In addition to this, selectors will consider form and fitness demonstrated during the early part of the winter, especially performances at the Liverpool Cross Challenge and, to a slightly lesser extent, Cardiff Cross Challenge.

Last year’s World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, was easier and cheaper for Brits to attend and there were five senior men, five senior women, four under-20 men, four under-20 women and a mixed relay team.

With the event being in Florida in 2026, though, UKA are going to pick a slightly smaller team of four athletes to contest each race, plus a mixed relay team.

There will be some groans that Britain isn’t sending bigger, stronger teams – and indeed the issue of sending "full teams" has been a controversial topic over the years. Still, UKA continue to support the event far better than most.

In Belgrade last year, for example, the roll call of European no-shows included Italy, Finland, Germany, Belgium, Turkey, Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland among others. In these countries, quietly boycotting the world cross has become the norm.

"We’ve got work to do," said Seb Coe in Belgrade. "I’d like to see more European nations travelling to these championships. Cross country, properly used in the modern training regimen, is an ageless and timeless concept."

Certainly, there will be no shortage of Brits keen to make the trip to Tallahassee for what promises to be a brilliant event.

The Apalachee Regional Park has hosted more than 75 national, state and local, cross country championships over the past 13 years and organisers say: "The championship course was designed by runners for runners, and winds through lush grass, crushed oyster shell, red clay, over rolling hills and through pine forests.

"It is an outstanding course that will stimulate and challenge competitors and inspire and engage spectators."