Charles Philibert-Thiboutot smashes Quebec record in first race post-injury

Olympian Charles Philibert-Thiboutot ran his first race in a year on Saturday and smashed his outdoor personal best, indoor personal best and the Quebec record for the indoor 5,000m.

RELATED: Charles Philibert-Thiboutot’s moment that changed everything

QC record alert! Charles Philbert-Thiboutot shatters the 5000m indoor record running 13:30.79, nearly 27 seconds faster than the previous record set in 1986 by Alain Bordeleau!

? @CoachLapointe pic.twitter.com/ayaFJVs3tQ

— Kris Mychasiw (@Mychasiw) December 7, 2019

The runner finished the Boston University Season Opener 5,000m in 13:30.79. This indoor time bests his outdoor PB by three seconds, and the Quebec indoor 5,000m record by 26 seconds. The previous record was set in 1986 by Alain Bordeleau.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5bCo-vnEow/

Philibert-Thiboutot wrote a blog post earlier this year announcing that his summer season was over due to injury. “A foot injury I have sustained since March has officially put me out for season for 2019. Coupled with an Achilles injury that has prevented me from running for 8 weeks in the fall, for the first time ever I am more than half of the year on the sidelines.” After over a year away from racing, the runner is back and seemingly better than ever.

Another interesting note on Philibert-Thiboutot’s race–he now shares an identical personal best 5,000m time with Ben Bruce, who he rented a room from while training in Flagstaff, AZ ahead of his performance.

A Canadian runner Charles Philibert-Thiboutit rented a room from Steph and I the last few weeks in Flagstaff, then he races tonight in Boston and runs a new 5000m pr… and get this it is the exact same time of my pr, to the hundredth.

Nice 13:30.79 @Chuck_PT

— Ben Bruce (@bbjamin) December 8, 2019

RELATED: VIDEO: 72 hours in Europe with Charles Philibert-Thiboutot

In the same race, fellow Canadians Kieran Lumb (13:54.44) and Thomas Fafard (13:57.77) finished 13th and 14th.

RELATED: Kieran Lumb wins UBC’s first U Sports Championship

Lumb is the 2019 U Sports Cross-Country Champion and his time on Saturday was a personal best. Fafard was the unexpected bronze medallist in the 5,000m at the 2019 Canadian Championships. With three Canadian men already running under 14:00 in an indoor 5,000m, the event is looking stronger than ever heading into the Olympic year.

Full meet results can be found here.