Bekele, Zeru (PhD)Assefa, Birhanu2021-08-112023-11-092021-08-112023-11-092021-06-05http://10.90.10.223:4000/handle/123456789/27644Since the COVID-19 was declared as a world Pandemic different local and international sport competitions have significantly been affected. The purpose of this study was to identify the performance differences between athletes who involved in 2020 (37th) and 2021( 38th) Jan-Meda International Cross Country Championship. In this study a descriptive - comparative research design was applied. The cross country results of 320 individual athletes who ranked in the top 40 during the 37th (2020) and 38th (2021) Jan-Meda International cross-country championship were used for data analysis. Of these athletes 160 were male and the rest 160 were male athletes. Convenience sampling technique was the sampling technique used to select the top 40 finishers. Telephone interview and document analysis were the two major data collection instruments. Based on the independent sample t-test results there was significant performance difference between the top 40 female athletes who participated in the 6km (p<0.005) and 10km (p<0.005) Jan-Meda International cross-country championships which were held during the 2020 (37th) and 2021(38th) competition calendar. Similarly, significant running performance differences were identified both in the male 8km (p<0.005) and 10km (p<0.005) races which were held in 2020 and 2021 championships. Although different and inconsistent inter-athlete deviations were reported in the majority of the races and rank categories athletes who participated in the 2021 championship showed better performance in all events and race categories.enRunning PerformanceCross-Country ChampionshipRank CategoriesThesis