2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships

When Athletics Kenya (AK, the national governing body of Athletics) applied for the event, it used the slogan "Cross Country Comes Home", referring to Kenyan and East African traditional dominance at the event. Nevertheless, no formidable Kenyan runners are known to come from Kenyan Coast Province. Instead, successful Kenyan runners typically represent Kalenjin tribes who reside in The Rift Valley Kenya, approximately 700-800 kilometres from Mombasa. AK chose Mombasa as a venue due to better infrastructure (such as hotels) compared to other cities. The 2007 World Cross Country Championships is one of the biggest international athletics event held in Kenya since the 1987 All-Africa Games, held 20 years ago in Nairobi. Another event held in Kenya was the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

Other applicants for the event were Miami in the United States and Madrid in Spain, both withdrew their candidature before final vote. The World Cross Country Championships have been held in Africa three times before. In 1975 and 1998 it was held in Morocco, the 1996 event took place in South Africa.

There was also an IAAF Council meeting held in Mombasa, at which the host cities for 2011 and 2013 IAAF World Championships in Athletics were selected.

Mombasa, the host, is the second largest city in Kenya, a major port town and tourist center. The event was held at Mombasa Golf Club, located in Mombasa Island, just east of the Kilindini Harbour. The track was curvy but relatively flat. The underlying ground was mostly grass.

The weather was sunny, hot and humid, typical of Mombasa, resulting in exhausting conditions. This kind of weather may affect competitors who hail from distant latitudes, but also Kenyan and Ethiopian runners, who often come from cooler highland areas. One victim was Pauline Korikwiang, Kenyan runner who was attempting to defend her junior women's title but fainted one kilometer before the finishing line.

Senior men's race (12 km)

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, who has won five consecutive long and short course races, promised to quit cross country running after the 2006 World Championships. However, he changed his mind and competed in Mombasa after all. A pre-race favourite, Bekele did not finish the race and thus failed to win historical sixth consecutive title.

Zersenay Tadese won the event and became the first cross-country world champion for Eritrea. Tadese is also the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships men's gold medalist.

Complete results for senior men and for senior men's teams were published.

Rank Team Points  Kenya
29  Morocco
152  Uganda
191 4  Eritrea 208 5  Qatar 243 6  Tanzania 313 7  Rwanda 358 8 United Kingdom 380 Full results

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

Junior men's race (8 km)

Complete results for junior men and for junior men's teams were published.

Rank Team Points  Kenya
10  Eritrea
44  Ethiopia
54 4  Uganda 55 5  Burundi 102 6  Tanzania 104 7  Morocco 134 8  Sudan 176 Full results

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

Senior women's race (8 km)

Complete results for senior women and for senior women's teams were published.

Rank Team Points  Ethiopia
19  Kenya
26  Morocco
99 4  Spain 135 5 United Kingdom 140 6  Australia 154 7  Eritrea 162 8  United States 176 Full results

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

Junior women's race (6 km)

Complete results for junior women and for junior women's teams were published.

Aberu Kebede, who originally finished 16th as the fifth Ethiopian runner, was disqualified in 2022 due to age cheating. Though the disqualification did not affect medals, team scores were adjusted.

Rank Team Points  Kenya
13  Eritrea
33  Ethiopia
36 4  Japan 59 5 United Kingdom 93 6  Uganda 117 7  Morocco 144 8  Burundi 151 Full results

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

  *   Host nation (Kenya)

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

According to an unofficial count, 470 athletes from 63 countries participated. This is in agreement with the official numbers as published. The announced athletes from the  Democratic Republic of the Congo and  Somalia did not show.