Yavi, Amebaw, Kwizera and Ndikumwenayo Set to Headline the 2025 Cross Internacional de Itálica
The prestigious Cross Internacional de Itálica in Santiponce, on the outskirts of Seville, will take place on Sunday, November 9, featuring a star-studded line-up led by Winfred Yavi of Bahrain and Likina Amebaw of Ethiopia in the women’s race, and Rodrigue Kwizera of Burundi alongside Thierry Ndikumwenayo of Spain in the men’s race.
Women’s Race Preview
World and Olympic champion Winfred Yavi headlines the women’s field. The Bahraini steeplechaser claimed gold at the Budapest 2023 World Championships and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the 3000m steeplechase. In 2024, she ran the second-fastest time in history—8:44.39—at the Rome Diamond League, missing Beatrice Chepkoech’s world record by just seven hundredths of a second. Yavi also captured the world silver medal in Tokyo 2025 with 8:56.46 and previously won back-to-back titles at the Cinque Mulini in Italy (2019 and 2020), another Gold-level World Cross Country Tour event.
Her main challenger, Likina Amebaw, has enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2025. The Ethiopian improved her personal bests across multiple distances: 4:00.14 for 1500m in Budapest, 14:30.54 for 5000m at the Xiamen Diamond League, and 1:04:44 for the half marathon in Copenhagen. In recent months, she finished third in the Zurich Diamond League Final over 3000m (8:41.06) and won both the Casablanca 10 km (29:55) and the Zornotza Cross Country in Amorebieta.
Kenya will be represented by Maurine Jebor, who won the Kenyan Trials for the 2026 World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee. Jebor set impressive personal bests in 2025 with 14:50.68 for 5000m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene and 14:40 for 5 km on the roads. Her compatriot Celestine Jepkorir, the World Cross Country silver medallist from San Sebastián last weekend, also lines up.
Returning to Seville is Daisy Jepkemei of Kazakhstan, runner-up at last year’s edition and sixth at the 2024 World Cross Country Championships.
Portugal’s Mariana Machado, preparing for next month’s European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, will also compete. Machado, a former European U20 silver medallist over 3000m (Boras 2019), placed fifth at the 2023 European Cross Country Championships in Antalya. She is the daughter of Albertina Machado, who represented Portugal in the marathon at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
The Spanish contingent includes Marta Serrano, bronze medallist in the 5000m at the 2023 European U23 Championships in Espoo, and María Forero, the 2025 European U23 5000m champion in Bergen and 2022 European U20 cross country champion in Venaria Reale.
Another name to watch is Norway’s Kristin Elkrem, who set a new personal best of 1:10:32 for the half marathon in Valencia last October.
Men’s Race Preview
The men’s 9.2 km race promises a thrilling duel between Rodrigue Kwizera of Burundi and Thierry Ndikumwenayo of Spain. The two training partners, based in Castellón under coach Lluis Toria, have dominated recent editions of the event.
Kwizera, the reigning World Cross Country Tour champion for both 2024 and 2025, has an outstanding record in Seville—winning in 2021, finishing runner-up in 2022 and 2024, and placing third in 2023. He recently ran a national record of 58:39 to finish second at the Valencia Half Marathon.
Ndikumwenayo, who beat Kwizera to claim victory in Seville last year and also won in 2022, brings strong credentials. The Spanish athlete of Burundian origin earned 10,000m bronze at the 2024 European Championships in Rome and placed ninth at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. His résumé includes national records of 7:25.93 for 3000m (Monaco 2022) and 26:49.49 for 10,000m (Paris 2024 Olympics), as well as a 12:47.67 personal best for 5000m (Oslo). After taking a short break for the birth of his first daughter in Burundi, he returned to competition in Castellón last week, finishing second to Kwizera.
The Kenyan contingent includes Denis Kipkoech Kemboi, Robert Koech, Edwin Kiplangat, Titus Kibet, Naibei Kiplimo, and Andrew Alamisi. Kemboi, Koech, and Kiplangat placed third, sixth, and seventh respectively at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships in Eldoret. Alamisi, the 2024 World U20 5000m champion in Lima, was runner-up at the Cinque Mulini, while Kibet, Kiplimo, and Kiplangat all reached the podium in San Sebastián.
Other international contenders include Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui of Tunisia, fourth in the 3000m steeplechase at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and Burundians Egide Nkaturimana and Emile Hafashimana, the latter recently victorious at the Amorebieta Cross Country (World Cross Country Tour Gold).
Spain will be represented by top athletes such as Deni Arce, the 2022 European bronze medallist in the 3000m steeplechase, Mohamed Attaoui, the national record holder in the 800m (1:42.04) and a Tokyo 2025 World Championships finalist, and Aaron Las Heras, European U23 5000m silver medallist from Tallinn 2021.
