The Italian reigns supreme over 10km and has now secured European titles on the track, road and over cross-country

Nadia Battocletti fulfilled her goal of becoming a European champion on three different surfaces after an impressive victory over 10km in Leuven, Belgium (April 13).

The Italian, who turned 25 yesterday, ran a national record of 31:10 and beat Germany's Eva Dietrich by 15 seconds at the European Running Championships.

With major wins on the track and over cross-country last season – Battocletti won European 5000m/10,000m titles on home soil and also topped the podium at the European Cross Country Championships – all she needed was a road title to complete the 'triple'.

The distance runner, who also claimed an Olympic 10,000m silver medal in Paris last summer, was one of the favourites in Leuven.

Victory was by no means guaranteed however, with Slovakia's Klara Lukan boasting a 10km best of 30:29, a mark she set in Castellón, Spain two months ago.

Battocletti and Lukan unsurprisingly started well and went through 5km in 15:32, with Italy's Sofiia Yaremchuk only a second behind at the half-way stage.

As the trio twisted their way through the narrow and windy Belgian streets, Battocletti started to get into her rhythm and broke away from the pair around the 7km mark, establishing a gap of around five seconds.

Towards the latter stages of the race, both Lukan and Yaremchuk dropped back and were overtaken by an inspired Dietrich.

Dietrich clocked 31:25 and edged out Lukan by one second for the silver medal. Portugal's Mariana Machado was unlucky to miss out on a podium spot and ran 31:30 for fourth.

"This is the best (belated) birthday present I could have wished for," Battocletti said afterwards. "It was my coach [Giuliano Battocletti] yelling at me around the 7km point that I needed to push. I saw that my competitors could not keep up with me. I kept pushing on every hill and also in the descent to be sure of the title.

"The course was not easy as you can see from the times. I now have four titles in less than a year so that's incredible. I was a little afraid of the Belgian weather but today it was the best weather for road running.

"The Italian team was great today. It was so cool to celebrate together. My next goal is probably the ASICS 5k in Tokyo so I can experiment with traveling for the World Championships in September and then some Diamond League races."

The leading Brit in the field was Verity Ockenden, who placed 11th with 32:11. Beth Potter, who secured an Olympic bronze medal in both the individual and mixed relay triathlon last summer, clocked 32:16.

European individual under-23 cross-country champion Phoebe Anderson was 31st with 32:52, Amelia Quirk was one place behind in 32:55, Sarah Astin finished 36th with 33:02 and Jenny Nesbitt was 47th in 33:30.

In the team standings, Italy took home gold, Germany secured silver and France claimed the bronze medal.

Yann Schrub, who became European senior individual cross-country champion in Brussels two years ago, continued his love affair with Belgium by securing a famous 10km win in Leuven.

The 29-year-old clocked 27:37 in what was a French 1-2, with Schrub's compatriot and former European 10km record-holder Etienne Daguinos second in 27:46.

Home favourite Isaac Kimeli stayed with both French athletes for the majority of the race – the trio went through 5km in 13:50 – and, even though he dropped off late on, still ran 27:58 and completed the podium.

Dominic Lobalu was one of the standout names in the men’s 10km field at the European Running Championships but he pulled out of the race with a few kilometres to go.

The European 10,000m champion and 5000m bronze medallist was part of the leading pack through 5km but stopped later on during the event. The Swiss athlete was forced to pull out of the inaugural Grand Slam Track meeting in Kingston due to a thigh strain, which also hampered his preparations for Leuven.

The headlines were however dominated by Schrub, who is back to work first thing tomorrow morning in a hospital.

"I felt strong mentally today because my legs were great during training," Schrub said afterwards. "I don’t like to show off my trainings on Strava, I prefer to keep it confidential. I was ready for that type of race. During my last competition I raced Jimmy Gressier and it showed me that I could have a good finish.

"Today one acceleration was sufficient for me to make the gap with the rest of the field. With 200m to the finish, I knew that I had even more in store and that’s a great confidence booster for my upcoming races.

"It’s my fourth European medal so I am more than delighted. The gold medal in the 10.000m is the one that is missing so to get that would be a full circle moment for myself. Now, I will take off five days of training but I have already to go back to work at the hospital tomorrow morning. I hope that my colleagues tuned in today!"

There was a strong British cohort in the 10km at the European Running Championships and the leading male in the field was Ellis Cross, who clocked 28:30 for 12th in Leuven. British 10km record-holder Rory Leonard placed 14th in 28:33, Charlie Wheeler was 21st in 28:40 and Alfie Manthorpe ran 29:09 for 33rd.

"Yeah that was a gruelling race," said Cross afterwards. "It was good to have the guys around us and we helped each other. It was nice to mix it up and not think about a time trial.

"I surprised myself in California [a 10,000m personal best of 27:43.15] and I'm in really good shape. Things have just progressed rapidly since I've been coached by Andy [Hobdell] at Makou Endurance. At the moment I'm really happy where I'm at."

In the team standings, France secured gold, Spain claimed silver and Belgium completed the podium.

One of the standout performances of the entire championships came in the men's marathon, with Iliass Aouani taking a shock victory over 26.2 miles in Leuven.

Aouani, who went into the competition with a personal best of 2:06:06 from Valencia last December, battled it out for glory against Israeli trio Gashau Ayale, Haimro Alame and Maru Teferi in the closing stages.

The quartet were all part of the leading pack and stayed together for the vast majority of the race, going through 10km in 31:01 and half-way in 64:08.

In the final few kilometres, it was anyone's title. On paper, Teferi – a world marathon silver medallist from Budapest – was the strongest but he was actually the first to drop off the pace.

With the finish just over the horizon, it then became a three-way tussle to top the podium. Alame was next to falter, leaving Aouani and Ayale to contest the gold medal.

As the duo approached the rafters of fans lined up by the finishing straight, both Aouani and Ayale kicked. Ayale, who claimed a European marathon bronze medal three years ago, edged ahead but Aouani never gave up.

Finding remarkable inner strength, the Italian went up another gear with around 400m to go and didn't look back. After crossing the line he fell to his knees in utter shock and couldn't quite believe it.

"I was not very confident because my opponents were very good," Aounai told European Athletics. "But in this kind of race, personal bests are not so important. It was tough but these races are not won by the strongest, they are by the wisest.

"However, I was the best in the race. Behind that scream at the finish line were many years of hard times. Last year I didn't make it to the Olympics. It was a really frustrating year. I saw a lot of doors close, faced a lot of disappointments, there were a lot of doubts, dark times and moments of depression.

"But I'm really happy with the way everything turned out. I am really proud of myself. I needed this victory. I knew I was the champion, but the world didn't know it. Now they do."

Great Britain's George James, on his international debut, placed fifth with a personal best of 2:10:10. It was the 31-year-old's third ever marathon – he ran 2:14:59 in London and 2:11:19 in Frankfurt – and he is now aiming for a sub-2:10 or even sub-2:09 run in the Autumn.

The women's marathon at the European Running Championships was also filled with drama, with Fatima Ouhaddou leading Spain to a historic 1-2 in Leuven.

Ouhaddou, who represented Spain at the 2023 World Championships and went into this marathon with a personal best of 2:24:05, had to recover from a fall to secure the gold medal.

Just after the half-way point of the race, with Ouhaddou well positioned at the front alongside compatriot Majida Maayouf and Israel's Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, the Spaniard fell to the ground after a male club runner inadvertently crashed into her after slipping at a drinks station.

Fortunately, Ouhaddou recovered quickly and made up the lost ground in next to no time. With Sapleter dropping back in the latter stages, it came down to the Spaniards to see who could top the podium.

Ouhaddou had a five second lead to Maayouf at the 40km mark but powered on and, in the end, won by an impressive margin of 27 seconds in a time of 2:27:14.

"I'm very happy to win the title," Ouhaddou told European Athletics. "I had a hard preparation because of Ramadan. We also prepare at night; it wasn't easy for us to prepare during Ramadan. When I started, I was thinking about a medal but I didn't know which colour of medal."

Great Britain's Georgina Schwiening, who has a best over 26.2 miles of 2:25:46, placed fifth in 2:40:17.