With a gold in the 10,000m and a bronze in the 5,000m at the 2025 World Championships, Frenchman Jimmy Gressier has firmly stamped his place among the world’s elite, perhaps even dethroning America’s Grant Fisher as the top distance runner alive. But here’s the twist: he was never meant to be in athletics at all. Surprised? Gressier once dreamed of a career in soccer. “Football was what I loved the most, I enjoyed it so much,” he revealed. Yet, his coaches quickly noticed his natural gift for running and pushed him toward the track, and the rest became history. Still, soccer hasn’t quite left him, as a Real Madrid legend recently stepped forward with a special tribute for the Frenchman.

Long before he emerged as France and Europe’s brightest long-distance prospect, Jimmy Gressier wasn’t

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