Cross-country dominance

This year's winner of the men's world 12,000 metre cross country championship was no surprise, as the Ethiopian champion had won five times previously. He followed a tradition of dominant winners; in the 1990s, one Kenyan won five times, and a few years before him, another Kenyan won five times too.

It is curious that cross-country lends itself to such consistent dominance by a single person. There is so much which changes from race to race and which can go wrong, like different terrain, harsh weather, lost shoes, and falling over. The more standardised track racing shows greater variation in its results.