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Canada already has the two fastest 5000m runners in North America in St. Catharine’s native Mo Ahmed with his 12:47.20 national record and Toronto’s Justyn Knight not far behind at 12:51.93. Vancouver’s Luc Bruchet is the third-fastest active athlete in Canada at 13:12.56 — all three performances happened last summer.
Charles Philibert-Thiboutot’s Sound Running performance
Friday night at the Sound Running Track Meet near Los Angeles, Charles Philibert-Thiboutot — a 1500m runner — stepped into the national 5000m conversation with a new personal best of 13:12:76. The performance is nearly as good as his 1500m best of 3:34.23.
Philibert-Thiboutot’s time is a Quebec provincial record. The result is also faster than the 2022 Eugene World Athletics Championships standard of 13:13:50. The 31-year-old’s run is the fastest by a Canadian so far in 2022. Bruchet, Knight, and Ahmed will need to beat Philibert-Thiboutot’s performance to compete in Eugene — a maximum of three can go. However, Ahmed has already run 12:56.87 indoors in February. There is little doubt that Knight and Ahmed will secure team spots.
Finishing seventh in a stacked field and not in his primary event perhaps suggests that a move up in distance may be worth considering for Philibert-Thiboutot.
In that race, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen cruised to victory with his final lap sprint to clock a 13:02.03 performance. Finishing in second place was Germany’s Mohamed Mohumed in 13:03.18 and American Joe Klecker for third with his 13:04.02 performance — both new personal bests. Mohumed had led until the final lap, then Ingebrigtsen took over.
The 21-year-old Norwegian owns a best of 12:48.45. He also owns eight national records or bests and earned the Tokyo Olympic gold in the 1500m distance with his 3:28.32 performance, his personal best.
Ça ne fait que commencer 🤫 https://t.co/3DkwnJk9IQ
— Charles P.-T. (@Chuck_PT) May 4, 2022
Eight athletes in the race ran World Championship qualifying marks.
Philibert-Thiboutot is a four-time national champion, Pan American Games bronze medallist, and national record holder in the 5K road event with his 2022 13:35 performance and B.A.A. Boston win. He bettered Paul Williams’ 1986 13:36 national record with that win.
Philibert-Thiboutot competed in the 1500m at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, reaching the semifinals on both occasions.
Results are available here>>
Personal bests
Outdoor
800 metres – 1:47.57 (Indianapolis, 2014)
1000 metres – 2:20.04 (Ostrava, 2015)
1500 metres – 3:34.23 (Monaco, 2015)
Mile – 3:54.52 (Oslo, 2015)
3000 metres – 7:45.03 (Ostrava, 2018)
5000 metres – 13:12.76 (San Juan Capistrano, 2020)
5 kilometres – 13:35 (Boston), 2022)
10000 metres – 28:45.42 (Burnaby, 2020)
Indoor
1000 metres – 2:21.02 (Montreal, 2015)
1500 metres – 3:40.21 (Dortmund, 2021)
Mile – 3:55.33 (New York, 2017)
3000 metres – 7:46.22 (Seattle, 2017)
5000 metres – 13:30:79 (Boston, 2019)[5]
