163 men and 128 women, from 31 countries have registered for the event, held on a course across the forested landscape of Põlula , just east of Rakvere, difficult to pass with its thick vegetation and complex gradients.

Three medal events are scheduled - normal course, short course and relay races.

The competition was also postponed from 2020 as result of the pandemic.

Coached by Olli-Markus Taivainen and Elo Saue, Estonia (team pictured) will be represented by 15 competitors, Lorely Kõrvel, Kadri Kadakas, Eleri Hirv, Sigrid Ruul, Margret Zimmermann, Evely Kaasiku and Marianne Haug among the women entrants and Uku-Laur Tali, Jaagup Truusalu, Heino Ollin, Ats Sõnajalg, Kristo Heinmann, Kenny Kivikas, Lauri Sild and Timo Sild from the men – the last of these picked up a nasty injury after spiking his leg with a branch during a competition in the U.S. just three weeks ago

Estonia's strongest achievement in the European Championships to date in the normal course is the bronze which Olle Kärner picked up in Otepää in 2006, along with the sixth place Maret Vaher achieved in Ukraine in 2000, while Liis Johanson, Annika Rihma and Evely Kaasiku put in the best relay performance, fifth, in Portugal in 2014.

The competition kicks off Wednesday with the short course race. Each category has three heats; the top 20 from each heat go through to the finals.

ERR's sports portal and ETV2 will be broadcasting the event (in Estonian) from Thursday, while the event's English-language official page is here.

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