France’s Jimmy Gressier concluded his season with a stellar performance at the Corrida de Houilles, a five star certified road race by European Athletics Running for All, in the suburbs of Paris on Sunday (29).
Gressier has won three European U23 titles this season but his performance in Houilles yesterday afternoon arguably surpasses any prior exploits on the track and cross country. Gressier finished third in the 10km in a European-leading time of 27:43 to move to second on the European all-time list behind Switzerland’s Julien Wanders, the winner last year in 27:25.
“I wanted to finish in style in my last race of the season,” said Gressier who was only beaten by Kenya’s Daniel Simiyu in a course record of 27:13 and Ethiopia’s Haftu Teklu who was credited with the same time as Gressier.
Gressier’s previous lifetime best of 28:13 was set in last year’s race which demonstrates the extent the 22-year-old has improved over the last twelve months. Gressier won the 5000m and 10,000m titles at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Gavle before winning his third successive individual and team titles in the U23 race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lisbon.
Gressier will take a short holiday before travelling to Kenya on 14 January for a one month-long training camp to prepare for the 2020 campaign in which the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Paris 2020 European Athletics Championships will feature on his racing itinerary.
There was another notable French performance in the women’s race as the in-form Liv Westphal, who finished fifth at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lisbon earlier this month, finished fourth in 31:15 to break Clemence Calvin’s national record by five seconds.
Her next race will be the Nice Prom Classic 10K on 5 January.
Kenya’s steeplechase specialist Norah Tanui Jeruto also set a course record to win the women’s race in 30:32 ahead of Ethiopia’s Haftamnesh Tesfay (30:52) and Gete Alemayehu (31:08).
The European Athletics Quality Road Race standards act as an assurance for road runners throughout Europe. They distinguish between races that respect the standards and those that haven’t sought certification or assessment. They form the foundation of Running for All, a strong recognisable brand for running activities throughout Europe.
More information on Running for All:
Website: european-running4all.org
Twitter: @runningforall
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