Thibault Placzek: “Keep up a high speed for as long as possible!”
Thibault Placzek, a bachelor’s student in economics at the University of Montpellier, won the French collegiate 5,000-meter championship last June.
About twenty athletes represented the University of Montpellier track and field team in Vineuil at the French University Championships, which took place on June 1 and 2 in pouring rain. “ “We set off in three minibuses; the atmosphere within the team was really great, as was the atmosphere at the championships, even though the weather was really not great,” recalls Thibault Placzek. And it was indeed in the rain that the 22-year-old athlete crossed the finish line first in the 5,000-meter race with a time quite close to his personal best.“I ran it in 14 minutes and 8 seconds—that’s 18 seconds slower than my time the week before.” That’s a speed of 20 to 22 km/h!
In the Placzek family…
Yet another medal for the middle-distance runner, who also holds the Val d’Oise record in the 10,000 meters with a time of 29’12. It must be said that in the Val d’Oise, the Placzek family is well known for running as naturally as they breathe. First, there’s the father, Bruno, who is none other than the first winner of the legendary Transbaie race in 1989, and the sister, Marion, with her five French championship titles. As for Thibault, he’s been running with a club since he was eight and joined AC Soisy Andilly Margency in 2022, but as for the 5,000-meter race,“it’s really only this year that I’ve gotten into it. Before that, I ran shorter distances and stayed at the regional level.” Along with his father and sister, the young athlete even had the pleasure of becoming the world runner-up in the team laser run, a discipline derived from the modern pentathlon.
The Economy in the Race
And Thibault Placzek doesn’t limit his pursuit of excellence to the track; this finance enthusiast left the Paris region to study at the Faculty of Economics in Montpellier. He’s in his third year of undergraduate studies and continues to train 8 to 10 times a week.“It’s not always easy—you have to be organized—but my status as a high-level student-athlete also allows me to adjust my schedule and exams.”This resilience has been thoroughly tested in his sport,which he sums up as the art of “maintaining high speed for as long as possible!” ” A motto that should help him achieve his next goal: a master’s degree in accounting and auditing.