Multiple European cross country champion Jimmy Gressier from France set his first European record on Sunday (16) morning at the Monaco Run 5km.
Fresh from a one month-long training stint in Kenya where he has been training alongside Julien Wanders, Gressier took a sizeable chunk off his record, taking the mark from 13:29 to 13:18 to finish second to Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei who decimated the world record with 12:51.
This was Gressier’s third notable performance in a row. The Frenchman won his third successive individual and team titles in the U23 race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lisbon in December before closing his year with a third-place finish over 10km in Houilles in 27:43. His next race will be over 3000m in Lievin on 19 February.
Liv Westphal won the women’s race in a French record of 15:31.