Charles Philibert-Thiboutot may not have made it to a final at the World Championships in Athletics, but his performances have shown him that he is fully prepared for the Olympic cycle which he hopes will -il, will take him to Paris in 2024.
Posted at 12:45 p.m.
The Quebecer took part in two events on the track of the legendary Hayward Field, in Oregon, where the Worlds were held until Sunday. He first ranked 15e in his favorite race, the 1500 m.
The 31-year-old athlete was part of a strong start during his semi-final and he could not finish among the top five who went directly to the next stage. Two additional places were available for the athletes who set the best times of the session, but Philibert-Thiboutot (3 min 37 s, 29 s) missed the final meeting by a few dust.
“I think I was just a little unlucky. My wave was almost as strong as an Olympic final and it worked against me,” he said straight away in a telephone interview with Sportcom.
“In the end, I missed my qualification by only 8 hundredths of a second and I think I could have had a better fate in the other semi-final, he continued. I even think it would have been a formality. »
Sure it’s a little disappointing, but I really proved that I was competitive over the distance.
Charles Philibert-Thiboutot
Barely two days later, the middle-distance runner returned to the track for the 5000m preliminaries. In his very first appearance at this event in the World Championships, he took 15e rung of his wave, which gave him the 27e rank in the cumulative ranking. Although he had no particular expectations for this distance, the Quebec native said he was happy to have been able to gain experience during this race, which was as fast as it was eventful.
“I was really starting from scratch for this event and I had underestimated race management in such a big peloton”, admitted the author of a time of 13 min 38.8 s. “It was very fast, there were a lot of changes of pace and I lacked energy on the last lap. It’s a different style and I’ll have to adapt. »
It is therefore with the feeling of accomplishment that Philibert-Thiboutot will return to the country at the beginning of the week. If his next goals will be more focused on improving his personal mark of 3 min 34.3 s in the 1500m, the Olympian of the Rio Games (2016) says he is more motivated than ever to make his way to Paris .
“The Worlds were an important experience for me, especially since it was my first major championship in almost six years. I had a tougher time with injuries and just missed out on qualifying for Tokyo last year, but that’s all behind me. I’m healthy and I really feel like I’m on a roll. In my head, I see myself among the top 5 in the 1500m in the next two years and I’m going for it all the way to Paris”, he said in conclusion.
Aiyana Stiverne and her teammates at the foot of the podium
After ranking 39e in the 400m earlier in the competition, Aiyanna Stiverne participated in the women’s 4 x 400m grand final, an event presented on Sunday evening, at the close of the 2022 worlds.
For the occasion, the Quebecer has paired her efforts with those of Natasha McDonald, Zoe Sherar and Kyra Constantine. The Canadians took advantage of this race to set their best time of the season, stopping the clock at 3 min 25.18 s.
However, this was not enough to get on the podium dominated by the American quartet (3 min 17.79 s). The representatives of Jamaica (3 min 20.74 s) took second place, just ahead of the British (3 min 22 s, 64 s).
Note that Montreal’s Micha Powell, who helped Canada qualify in the semi-finals on Saturday, acted as a substitute in the final race.