Jimmy Gressier

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Jimmy Gressier
2022-08-21 European Championships 2022 - Men's 10,000 Metres by Sandro Halank-115.jpg
Gressier at the 2022 European Athletics Championships
Personal information
Born (1997-05-04) 4 May 1997 (age 28)
Boulogne-sur-Mer, France [1]
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight62 kg (137 lb)
Sport
CountryFrance
Sport Athletics
Event(s) Middle-, Long-distance running
ClubBoulogne AC
Coached byDinielle Arnaud (2015–)
Medal record
Athletics
Representing Flag of France.svg  France
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2025 Tokyo 10,000 m
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2025 Tokyo 5,000 m
Diamond League
Gold medal icon.svg 2025 Zürich 3000 m [a]
European Running Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2025 Brussels Half marathon
European U23 Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2019 Gävle 5000 m
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg2019 Gävle 10,000 m
European Cross Country Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2017 Šamorín U23 Race
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2018 Tilburg U23 Race
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2019 Lisbon U23 Race
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2021 Dublin Senior Race

Jimmy Gressier (born 4 May 1997) [2] is a French middle- and long-distance runner. He won gold in the 10,000 metres and bronze in the 5,000 metres at the 2025 World Athletics Championships. [3] [4] He has also won gold medals in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres at the 2019 European Under-23 Championships. Gressier claimed four individual medals at the European Cross Country Championships, including three U23 titles. He is the European record holder for the 5 km road race. [5] He won the 3000 metres at the 2025 Diamond League Final. [6]

Contents

Career

2022: European 5 km road record

Jimmy Gressier held European 5 km road race record of 13:18 from February 2020 until April 2022, when Italy's Yemaneberhan Crippa set a new continental best mark of 13:14. On 12 February 2023, Gressier regained his record at the Monaco Run – 5 km Herculis with a time of 13:12. [5]

2025: 10,000m world champion

At the 2025 World Athletics Championships held in Tokyo, Gressier was the surprise winner of the 10,000 m. Gressier won with a late burst of speed in the finishing straight, coming in with a time of 28 minutes 55.77 seconds. [7] He is the first Frenchman and the third European male to have won at this distance in the world championship, and only the second male champion not to be born in Africa after Alberto Cova in 1983. [3]

In the final day of the World Championships, Gressier added a bronze medal to his haul after finishing third in the 5,000 m race. [4]

Miscellaneous

Gressier is known for race finish celebrations. At the 2018 edition of the European cross country while in first place at the end of the U23 race he attempted a football player like knee slide but ended up falling flat on his face as he crossed the line. [8] At the 2019 edition of the same race Gressier was so far clear of the other competitors that he walked across the line. At the 2019 French Cross Country Championships, Gressier began slapping hands with the crowd and high-fived a mascot before looking back to discover that he wasn’t leading as big a margin as he thought and had to sprint for the finish. [9] At the French Cross Country Championships in March 2023, he celebrated by eating a crepe before the finish line. He attempted, unsuccessfully, to feed some of his victory crepe to second-place finisher Markus Georger, who declined. He then offered some to third-place Fabien Palcau, who happily accepted. [10] He celebrated his victory in the half marathon at the 2025 European Running Championships in April 2025, by hurdling over the victory tape. [11]

Personal life

He lived in Boulogne-sur-Mer in Northern France and played football as well as competing in athletics as a teenager. In 2015, Gressier was selected to play for a football team representing France at the World Schools Football Cup in Guatemala, as well as being selected for the Junior Cross-Country World Championships in China. However, it became difficult to pursue both and he stopped football at the age of 17 years-old. [12]

Achievements

International competitions

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventResult
2015 World Cross Country Championships Guiyang, China80thJunior race 27:10
European Cross Country Championships Hyères, France4thJunior race 17:48
1stJunior team 27 pts
2016 World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland10th5000 m 13:55.07
European Cross Country Championships Chia, Italy4thJunior race 17:19
1stJunior team 26 pts
2017 European U23 Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland–5000 m DQ
European Cross Country Championships Šamorín, Slovakia1stU23 race 24:35
1stU23 team 7 pts
2018 Mediterranean U23 Championships Jesolo, Italy1st5000 m 14:35.85
Mediterranean Games Tarragona, Spain8th5000 m 14:01.13
European Cross Country Championships Tilburg, Netherlands1stU23 race 23:37
1stU23 team 11 pts
2019 European Indoor Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom7th3000 m 8:00.89
European U23 Championships Gävle, Sweden1st5000 m 14:16.55
1st10,000 m 28:44.17
European Cross Country Championships Lisbon, Portugal1stU23 race 24:17
1stU23 team 17 pts
2021 European Indoor Championships Toruń, Poland8th3000 m 7:52.43
Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan13th5000 m 13:11.33
European Cross Country Championships Dublin, Ireland3rdSenior race 30:34
1stSenior team 13 pts
2022 European 10,000m Cup Pacé, France1st10,000 m 27:24.51
World Championships Eugene, United States11th10,000 m 27:44.55
European Championships Munich, Germany4th10,000 m 27:49.84
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 9th5000 m 13:17.20
2024 European Championships Rome, Italy 5th10,000 m 28:01.42
Olympic Games Paris, France 27th (h)5000 m 14:09.95
13th10,000 m

Personal bests

Road

Notes

  1. ↑ 3000 m was the event only in the final, others 2025 meetings included 5000 m events


References

  1. ↑ "EAA profile". European Athletics. Archived from the original on 22 August 2024. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  2. ↑ Jimmy Gressier at World Athletics OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  3. 1 2 Hernandez, Anthony (14 September 2025). "Surprise gold for Jimmy Gressier, the third European 10,000m world champion". Le Monde.
  4. 1 2 Broadbent, Chris (21 September 2025). "Kimeli and Gressier win 5000m silver and bronze as Ingebrigtsen fades". European Athletics.
  5. 1 2 "Tola and Dida win Dubai Marathon, Gressier runs area 5km record in Monaco". World Athletics . 12 February 2023. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  6. ↑ "Big wins for Lyles and Weber, records for Warholm and Tinch as Diamond League Final concludes in Zurich". World Athletics. 28 August 2025. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
  7. ↑ "Jimmy Gressier storms to historic world 10,000m title in Tokyo". Athletics Weekly. 14 September 2025.
  8. ↑ "Runner's finish line celebration doesn't go to plan". Sky News. 10 December 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  9. ↑ Dickinson, Marley (15 November 2021). "WATCH: Over-celebrating almost costs cross country runner the race". Runningmagazine.ca. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  10. ↑ "French Runner Jimmy Gressier Celebrates Victory with a Crepe". Runnersworld. 13 March 2023. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  11. ↑ "Gressier wins first senior title at European Running Championships". European Athletics. 12 April 2025. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  12. ↑ "Jimmy Gressier: An unexpected journey for gold". Olympics.com. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
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