Emelia Gorecka admitted a touch of familiarity helped her bring the curtain down on her junior cross country career in style with victory at the European Championships in Belgrade.
The 19-year-old, who won the European title in 2011, travelled to Serbia knowing it would be her last chance to add to her collection of junior continental medals, which also includes a silver and bronze.
And the Aldershot, Farnham & District athlete didn’t disappoint, leading from the front before bursting clear to cross the line in 13.06 minutes.
She finished a full ten seconds clear of Sofia Ennaoui of Poland in second and Slovenia’s Marusa Mismas in third with Gorecka revealing her build up had been perfect.
“I’m really happy,” she said. “It was a really good race and the team ran really well. The first two laps were really hectic and there was a lot of pushing and shoving.
“I said before everything was similar to Slovenia two years ago where I won last time.
“The course, the conditions, the weather and what I wore was all building up to the same thing. So I was thinking it has be the time again to win.
“It was nice to sign it off and it was never going to be easy. I could have never predicted the top ten because there are so many different girls.”