Charles Philibert-Thiboutot

Biography

Charles Philibert-Thiboutot made his Olympic debut at Rio 2016 where he advanced to the 1500m semifinals. But for the next three years, he struggled with various injuries. That included problems with his Achilles tendon in 2017 and 2018, a stress fracture in his foot in 2019, and a calf muscle tear in 2020. It became a mental and physical challenge for him to train properly and he did not qualify for a return to the Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020.  

Things began to turn around for Philibert-Thiboutot in 2022. In his return to the World Athletics Championships for the first time since 2015, he finished second in his 1500m heat ahead of Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway and the man who would go on to win the gold medal, Jake Wightman of Great Britain. In the semifinals, he came less than a tenth of a second from advancing to the final.

A big goal in 2023 was to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for Paris 2024 in the 1500m. He did that in June at a meet in France. His time of 3:32.94 was a new personal best after he had unable to improve upon his PB mark since 2015. He became the second-fastest Canadian of all time in the 1500m. He went on to again reach the 1500m semifinals at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Philibert-Thiboutot had started to establish himself as one of Canada’s top middle distance runners in 2015. In addition to making his world championship debut that summer, he won 1500m bronze at the Pan American Games in Toronto.

Prior to that, in 2012 he finished second in the 1500m at both the CIS Championships and the NACAC U23 meet. In 2014 he was crowned CIS Champion in the 1500m and finished second at the senior Canadian Championships. He also competed at the 2014 World University Cross-Country Championships.

A Little More About Charles 

Getting into the Sport: Started running track at age 15… His physical education teacher thought he’d be well-suited for the middle distances because he had great endurance when playing other sports…  Outside Interests: Enjoys alpine skiing, music, cooking, reading, video games… Graduated from Laval University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and diploma in public relations… Serves as Athlete Representative on the Athletics Canada Board of Directors… Odds and Ends: Inspired by legendary middle distance runner Sebastian Coe as someone who has great career achievements outside of athletics… Nickname: CPT… Favourite motto: Success if going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm…