Jean Thomas may be a chartered accountant and auditor, he sometimes has trouble counting all the titles and all the podiums he has conquered! Champion of Lorraine, France, Europe, the world, the Nancéien is equally at ease in athletics, on track, indoors or in the undergrowth, as in duathlon. His professional skills led him to occupy leadership positions in the regional league as well as in the FFA or to the ” World Masters Athlétics “. He has just been re-elected treasurer at national level and occupies the same position at world and European level. At 71, he is preparing for the duathlon world championship and also wants to go to the French cycling time trial championships… Insatiable!
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7 to 10 hours of training per week
In March 2019, Jean Thomas took second place in the World Cross Country Championship at Grandson , Poland. His last podium to date. He now has goals in mind. Of victory obviously. “When you’ve had the good fortune to win, you always want to experience these great sensations, to relive the emotion of victory”, admits the Nancy. “So I’m doing everything I can for that. I train between 7 and 10 hours a week. I have eating habits, a healthy lifestyle, I know how to manage periods of effort and recovery. “
He won the world title over 5,000 meters outdoors at Puerto Rico in 2003, and he was twice world duathlon champion: in Hobart in Tasmania in 1994 and Cancún in Mexico in 1995. This discipline combines his two sporting passions. Indeed, the duathlon is made up of two running events framing a cycling event. “When I was young, I did a lot of scouting,” says Jean Thomas. “I was riding my bike to the rally. When I was 16, with a friend, I had done Nancy-Sélestat-Nancy the same day! 270 km on a hiker with half-balloon tires, quite a hike. I inquired about cycling competition, but it required long training sessions. With my studies, I could not devote enough time to it. So I turned to athletics. “
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Running has been successful for him. He has obtained regional titles in all categories from the cadets. In junior, he was classified in the ten best French. At 20, on an ashen track, he achieved 2’27 ” in the 1,000 meters under the colors of the Cercle Athlétique Nancéien. Today, he runs another 10 km in 42 minutes without a problem. “I have never gone a year without competition since 1964. I came back to cycling through duathlon. My brother, Pierre Faucheur, also an athlete, was injured in the Paris marathon. I cycled with him. Then, I caught the duathlon virus, a good virus! “
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National records
He started in this discipline in 1992. The following year, he finished 4e in his age category of the World Championship contested in Dallas. He triumphed twice afterwards. International competitions have allowed him to travel. In 99, he became European champion in the 3,000 meters indoor in Malmö, Sweden. “A great memory because I took a lap from all the other runners except one! That year, I won four French records: over 800, 1,000, 1,500 and 3,000 m. I have a fairly large register. They were beaten up seven years later by my brother! »Living near the Pépinière park in Nancy, Jean Thomas holds another record: that of the greatest number of laps made in this space. Out of taste, and because there are its chronometric references, but also out of necessity because of the restrictions due to the Covid epidemic …
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In January 2010, he participated in an issue of the program “E = M6” which compared a sedentary in his forties and a sportsman of 61 years. Tests showed that Jean Thomas still had the heart, lungs and muscle tone of his 20 years! As he continued on the same line, he should be able to hit his winning goals. “It’s so good to win! “
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