1979 IAAF World Cross Country Championships
# 1979 IAAF World Cross Country Championships

The 1979 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Limerick, Ireland, at the Greenpark Racecourse on 25 March 1979. A report on the event was given in the Glasgow Herald.

Complete results for men, junior men, women, medallists, and the results of British athletes were published.

## Medallists

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Individual |||||||
| Senior men (12 km) | John Treacy Ireland | 37:20 | Bronisław Malinowski Poland | 37:29 | Aleksandr Antipov Soviet Union | 37:30 |
| Junior men (7.36 km) | Eddy de Pauw Belgium | 23:02 | Steve Binns England | 23:09 | Ildar Denikeyev Soviet Union | 23:20 |
| Senior women (5.04 km) | Grete Waitz Norway | 16:48 | Raisa Smekhnova Soviet Union | 17:14 | Ellison Goodall United States | 17:18 |
| Team |||||||
| Senior men | England | 119 | Ireland | 198 | Soviet Union | 210 |
| Junior men | Spain | 57 | England | 74 | Soviet Union | 75 |
| Senior women | United States | 29 | Soviet Union | 48 | England | 68 |

## Race results

### Senior men's race (12 km)

* Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

### Junior men's race (7.36 km)

* Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

### Senior women's race (5.04 km)

* Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

## Medal table (unofficial)

* Host nation (Ireland)

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | England (ENG) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | Ireland (IRL)* | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | United States (USA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Belgium (BEL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Norway (NOR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Spain (ESP) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Soviet Union (URS) | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 8 | Poland (POL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals (8 entries) | Totals (8 entries) | 6 | 6 | 6 | 18 |

* Note: Totals include both individual and team medals, with medals in the team competition counting as one medal.

## Participation

An unofficial count yields the participation of 383 athletes from 27 countries. This is in agreement with the official numbers as published.

* Australia (11)
* Austria (7)
* Belgium (21)
* Canada (20)
* Czechoslovakia (1)
* Denmark (21)
* England (21)
* France (21)
* Ireland (21)
* Israel (4)
* Italy (21)
* Lebanon (1)
* Netherlands (11)
* New Zealand (15)
* Northern Ireland (21)
* Norway (11)
* Poland (6)
* Portugal (13)
* Scotland (21)
* Soviet Union (16)
* Spain (21)
* Sweden (5)
* Switzerland (7)
* Tunisia (6)
* United States (20)
* Wales (21)
* West Germany (19)
