Beatrice Chepkoech is one of the favourites in the women's race ©Getty Images

Some of Kenya's most prominent distance runners are on the start list for the latest leg of the World Athletics Cross Country Tour in Elgoibar in Spain, with two world champions headlining the women's race.

It is set to be the penultimate leg of the Gold Tour in Spain, which will travel to Italy, Kenya, Belgium and Portugal before returning in March.

In the women's 7.7-kilometre race, Kenya's Beatrice Chepkoech, the world champion, world record holder and seventh-place finisher at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the 3,000 metres steeplechase, takes on compatriot Beatrice Chebet, who is the 2019 under-20 world cross country champion.

Chepkoech finished third in Elgoibar three years ago and will be in contention for the podium again, but her form is unknown, having not ran since the Games in August.

Chebet, meanwhile, is also the under-20 5,000m world champion from 2018 and was the runner-up at the Elgoibar race in 2020.

She has shown great consistency this year with second in Atapuerca and third in Italica and Campaccio.

Beatrice Chebet is another main contender in the women's race ©Getty Images
Beatrice Chebet is another main contender in the women's race ©Getty Images

Edinah Jebitok is fresh from a 30min 44sec time over 10km in Madrid, helping the Kenyan charge.

Ethiopian pair of Fantaye Belayneh and Senbere Teferi should also be contention, as will Ugandan duo Prisca Chesang and Esther Chebet.

Kenya's Nicholas Kimeli is the top athlete in the men's 10.8km race, having narrowly missed the Olympic bronze medal in the 5,000m at Tokyo 2020, finishing fourth.

Another fourth-place finisher in Tokyo, Ethiopian steeplechaser Getnet Wale, who was also fourth at the 2019 World Championships, is on the start line, too.

Winners of the 2008 and 2019 races Leonard Komon and Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya are in the field too, as are Ethiopia's Addisu Yihune and Kenya's Amos Serem.