by Larry Eder
FRENCHMAN GRESSIER HOPES FOR FIRST WORLD CROSS COUNTRY MEDAL
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2026 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission.
TALLAHASSEE (09-Jan) — At last month’s SPAR European Athletics Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal, Frenchman Jimmy Gressier lost a pitched battle with Spain’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo in the final meters of the 7.47-kilometer senior men’s race when he stumbled and lost his momentum just before the finish line. The reigning world 10,000m champion made no excuses.
“When I tried to give the last attack, I lost my balance in a pot of mud and it turned out Thierry was stronger than me today,” Gressier said after the race. “Bravo to him.”
Although the silver medal was satisfying (it was his fifth individual medal at a European Cross Country Championships, including three gold medals in the under-23 race), it left him wanting more. Unlike many Europeans, he decided to re-boot for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships here tomorrow at Apalachee Regional Park, a former landfill which was turned into a purpose-built cross country course which has hosted 75 championships at various levels, according to local officials.
“It is true that I fell in the last few meters of the European Championships,” Gressier said through an interpreter at a press conference here today. “It was really frustrating, but it pushed me to train harder. I have a clear objective here which is to go home with a medal. I’m using that as motivation to get that medal.”
Gressier, 28, is coming off of a superb year in 2025. His victory in the 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo was breathtaking. Gressier was in sixth position coming off of the backstretch on the final lap. He moved up to fourth coming out of the final bend, and in the most memorable 90 meters of those championships he blew past Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha and Selemon Barega, and Sweden’s Andreas Almgren to claim the gold medal by just 6/100ths of a second. He ran his last 1000 meters in 2:26.10.
“It was indeed a crazy final straight,” Gressier told reporters today. “I was on a World Championships high and was in amazing shape in the lead-up. I think the last few meters of that race speaks for itself.”
Seven days later Gressier earned the bronze medal in the 5000m. Adding his European title at the half-marathon last April (with a personal best of 59:45) and a 5000m personal best of 12:51.59, Gressier has established himself as Europe’s top distance man for 10,000m and beyond (albeit with Almgren right behind). He said that to get to this level he had to raise his game in training.
“I changed the intensity of my training,” he said in response to a reporter’s question about his success last year. “I trained much harder. I only missed five days last year without running the entire year. I’ve also focused on the last 400 meters and the final straight.”
Gressier, who said he watches a lot of football (soccer), has become famous for his finish line celebrations. At the European Half-Marathon Championships he hurdled the finish tape, and at previous European Cross Country Championships he has done dramatic slides on his knees through the finish line, like football players do after they score a goal. When asked whether he had a special celebration in mind for Tallahassee he laughed.
“To plan my celebrations I first have to win,” he said. “There are some big customers to beat tomorrow, so I’ll think about that a little bit later.”
The last Frenchman to win the World Athletics Cross Country Championships was Jean Fayolle in 1965 (Annette Sergent won on the women’s side in 1989). The last European man to win the senior individual title was Mohammed Mourhit of Belgium in 2001 (he received a doping suspension the following year). A medal of any color for Gressier here would be a huge accomplishment and certainly front page news in France.
“Cross country teaches a lot of things, including resilience, the importance of hard work, and competitive spirit,” Gressier told reporters. “It taught me at a young age that I have to work hard and never give up. Tokyo was the culmination of all of that hard work and all of of my childhood dreams.”
– – – – – –
RACE RESULTS WEEKLY is sponsored by RunCzech, organizers of the Prague Marathon and a series of iconic running events, including the Prague Half Marathon, part of the SuperHalfs, and Italy’s fastest half marathon, the Napoli City Half Marathon. Learn more at runczech.com.
