Jimmy Gressier held European 5km 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 – 5km Herculis with a time of 13:12.[3]
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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] He celebrated his victory in the half marathon at the 2025 European Running Championships in April 2025, by hurdling over the victory tape.[8]
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.[9]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
