Canada’s Philibert-Thiboutot in career-best running form after managing negative emotions | CBC Sports
Canadian middle-distance runner Charles Philibert-Thiboutot was talking with French counterpart Jimmy Gressier in early June following another “unlucky” performance on the track in less-than-ideal conditions.
Gressier had lined up two men’s 1,500-metre races later in the month in France and suggested his friend join him, believing they could help each other post fast times.
“I felt like this might be [the time for a personal best] and I should go,” Philibert-Thiboutot said this week from his Vancouver home. “With the bad luck I had had, I needed to run to my full capability before getting back to training. That’s what drove the decision.”
On June 10 in Montesson, Philibert-Thiboutot jostled for position off the start on a warm and calm day and was about 10 metres behind the peloton at the 100-metre mark. But he worked his way through to the front pack and finished second in three minutes 33.54 seconds for a Quebec record and his first PB since 2015. Only Kevin Sullivan, the three-time Olympian and 1994 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, has run faster among Canadian men in 3:31.71.
Eight days after Montesson, Philibert-Thiboutot said “everything fell into place perfectly” at the Meeting Stanislas Nancy, a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver event, where the Quebec City athlete clocked 3:32.94 in a stacked field that pushed the pace once the pace-setters fell off at 1,100 metres.
“It was weighing on me that I couldn’t run a PB for so long,” Philibert-Thiboutot said in a Tuesday interview with CBC Sports before flying to Silesia, Poland for the 14th Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Diamond League meet on Sunday. “After I broke the glass ceiling with the first race in France, it was pure elation. There’s a whole new mentality when I step on the [start] line.
“I was the one calling the shots and decided where I wanted to place myself [in the race]. It brought a lot of confidence and with that comes a better ability to navigate the [front] pack. I’m hoping to bring that same energy [on Sunday].”
Headed to world championships
The live stream from Silesian Stadium begins at 10 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
Philibert-Thiboutot’s efforts in France also met the 3:34.20 automatic entry standard for the Aug. 19-27 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. And Sunday’s race at 11:38 a.m. ET will mark his first attempt at the 3:33.50 standard for the Paris Olympics next summer after the qualifying window opened on July 1.
To move forward … I can’t carry the negative emotions of the injuries forever. I got rid of them in 2022 and I’m a totally new athlete.— Canadian middle-distance runner Charles Philibert-Thiboutot
“Obviously, [I’ll] have the Olympic standard in mind. It’s been a while since I’ve [been part] of a high-quality race and I feel this time I can contend and fight to be at the front,” said Philibert-Thiboutot, the lone Canadian competing in Silesia. “It’s probably the first time I’ve felt this way about a Diamond League race. The other times I was invited I would go at the back of the pack and hold on for dear life.”
On four occasions from 2015 to 2018, the 32-year-old finished no higher than eighth, but was third in Stockholm in 2018 and fourth at the 2016 Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway.
Over the years, Philibert-Thiboutot’s PB attempts were disrupted at various times by the following injuries: Stress fracture in his right foot, a left Achilles problem, lower back issues, torn left calf and a sciatic nerve problem.
“The years between 2017 and 2020 when the injuries were major you’re wondering if you’ll ever be able to perform again [on the track],” he said. “To move forward, and this is something I worked on with a sports psychologist in 2021 and 2022, I can’t carry the negative emotions of the injuries forever. I got rid of them in 2022 and I’m a totally new athlete.”
Philibert-Thiboutot opened his 2023 outdoor season in the 1,500 in “extremely bad weather” in New York, where he went 3:39.91 on May 19 at Track Night NYC. Two weeks later, he said he was bodied, tripped a lot and “couldn’t find a rhythm” racing at the Portland Track Festival.
“As prepared as I was [to PB several times over the years] I couldn’t get the chance to [have the result] play in my favour,” he pointed out. “I just stayed patient and kept believing that I was capable to do these things and it finally [went my way].”
‘Charles is still passionate about his sport’
Félix-Antoine Lapointe, who began coaching Philibert-Thiboutot 12 years ago at Laval University in Quebec City, described him as resilient and a fearless competitor.
“A lot of athletes would have retired after eight years without a personal best,” he told CBC Sports. “Charles is still passionate about his sport and I always believed he [could] improve his personal best if he [stayed] healthy for a [full] year or longer.”
The 2016 Olympian believes his career turned around last summer in the preliminary round at worlds in Eugene, Ore. He finished second in his heat in a season-best 3:35.02 ahead of reigning Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and eventual world gold medallist Jake Wightman of Great Britain. However, Philibert-Thiboutot missed qualifying for the final, finishing 9-100ths of a second behind Ignacio Fontes of Spain in the semifinals.
“As disappointing as it was in the moment, it is a testimony of how close I am to my goals and how much progress I’ve made,” he said.
“My mindset is to give it everything this year [at worlds], in Paris and try to medal. This will definitely be my last Olympic cycle and 2025 might just be an extra year [to compete] for fun.”
Added Lapointe: “I am confident he can make the final and finish top eight at worlds and the Olympics. A medal is maybe a long shot, but not impossible.”
Should Philibert-Thiboutot not race at the London Athletics Meet on July 23 — he’s on the waiting list — he will return to B.C. for his final pre-worlds race at nationals July 27-30 in Langley.
3 other events to watch in Poland
- Sha’Carri Richardson will try to reclaim the season world-leading time in the women’s 100 at 11:53 a.m. ET after earning her first world berth last week at the USATF Outdoor National Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene.
She clocked a 10.71 PB in the preliminary heats before taking the women’s final in 10.82. Five-time Olympic medallist Shericka Jackson, who is in Sunday’s field, ran a world-leading 10.65 — fifth best all-time — the next day at the Jamaican championships.
WATCH | Athletics North discusses Richardson, Charleston & USATF nationals:
Sha’Carri Richardson symbolically shed her old self, we did the Charleston in Eugene, Ore., and Kenneth Rooks fell but got up and won! This and more in our Athletics North USATF nationals recap with special guest contributors Perdita Felicien & Morgan Campbell.
- The men’s 100 at 10:16 a.m. ET is fronted by Fred Kerley, who will look to become the first man since eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt to win back-to-back world titles in the event next month.
Fourth in the 200 at U.S. championships (19.86 SB), he is scheduled to face 2019 100 world champion Christian Coleman in Silesia, along with reigning 100 world silver medalist Marvin Bracy-Williams and Cravont Charleston, fresh off his stunning U.S. title victory in 9.95. He beat Coleman by 1-100th of a second.
Diamond League calendar
- Monaco — July 21
- London — July 23
- Shanghai — July 29
- Shenzhen, China — Aug. 3
- Zurich — Aug. 31
- Brussels — Sept. 8
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