Christopher Thompson (born 17 April 1981) is a British

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

, who won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Cat ...

in Barcelona, on 27 July 2010 behind his compatriot Mo Farah. Prior to his 2010 medal win he had won the European U23 5000 m Championship in 2003. However he was initially unable to build on this victory, as he had substantial injury problems for a number of years. He is currently coached by Alan Storey. Thompson ran at the 2010

Great Yorkshire Run The Great Yorkshire Run is an annual 10K run road race previously held in September in Sheffield City Centre, England, and now held in July in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. It is a part of the Great Run series of events, and as such is linked with ...

in September and came close to victory, but was edged out by a second by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Craig Mottram Craig Mottram (born 18 June 1980) is a former Australian long and middle-distance runner who specialised in the 5000 meter event. Early years Mottram was born on 18 June 1980 in Frankston, Victoria. He attended Geelong Grammar School. Caree ...

. He took on top

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n runners at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

, but he could not repeat his podium performance of Barcelona; he finished in fifth place behind

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

n winner

Moses Kipsiro Moses Ndiema Kipsiro (born 2 September 1986 in Singare) is a Ugandan long-distance runner who specialises in the 5000 metres. He was the bronze medallist in the event at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. He represented Uganda at the 2 ...

and the

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

n team, making him the top non-African performer in the event. At the start of the 2011 track season Chris Thompson ran the third fastest 10,000 m by a Briton with his time of 27:27.36 minutes at the

Payton Jordan Invitational Payton may refer to: *Payton (given name) *Payton (surname) Payton is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Albert Payton (1898–1967), English cricketer * Andy Payton (born 1967), English former professional footballer * Asie Pay ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

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. He was the sole runner to challenge

Haile Gebrselassie Haile Gebrselassie ( am, ኀይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ, ''haylē gebre silassē''; born 18 April 1973) is an Ethiopian retired long-distance track, road running athlete, and businessman. He won two Olympic gold medals and four World Champions ...

at the

Great Manchester Run The Great Manchester Run (styled as the ''Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run'' for sponsorship purposes from 2017) is an annual run through Greater Manchester (namely Manchester, Trafford and Salford). It has consisted of a 10k run since it was es ...

in May and finished as runner-up to the decorated

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n. A heel injury interrupted his season and eventually ruled him out of competing at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

. He returned to action in October at the

Great South Run The Great South Run is an annual 10 mile (16.09 km) road running race which takes place in Portsmouth, United Kingdom providing an intermediate distance between the ten kilometre and the half marathon (21.097 km) runs. Launched in 1990 ...

. At the 10-mile

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

race he started quickly, but faded badly in the latter stages and ended up fourth. He praised the sensible pacing of Alistair Cragg (who overtook him for third place) and remarked "I didn't respect the course with my ambitions...I've learned a lesson about road running for the future". He ran his first half marathon at the start of 2012, placing seventh at the

New York Half Marathon The New York City Half Marathon (branded as the United Airlines NYC Half) is an annual half marathon road running race from Brooklyn's Prospect Park to Manhattan's Central Park via the Manhattan Bridge, held since 2006. It passes through o ...

in a time of 61:23 minutes. He came fourth at the Payton Jordan 5000 m and represented the hosts in the 10,000 metres event at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, managing only 25th place after an injury interrupted season. His last outing of the year was sixth at the Great North Run. He was not selected for the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

the following year, although he had season's bests of 13:24.06 minutes and 27:40.81 minutes on the track. On the roads he came fifth at the

Great Scottish Run The Great Scottish Run is a series of mass-participation road running events, held annually in the streets of Glasgow, Scotland in October. The event began as a full marathon in 1979, but later changed to a weekend of shorter events. The weekend ...

and was second at the

Great Birmingham Run The Great Birmingham Run is an annual half marathon road running event held in Birmingham, UK in October. Formerly known as the Birmingham Half Marathon, from 2011 it became part of the Great Run series of road races. Established in 2008, it in ...

. On 22 September 2013, Thompson was crowned 'King of Richmond' beating

Andy Vernon Andrew James Vernon (born 7 January 1986) is a British long-distance runner who specialised in the 5000 metres, the 10,000metres on track and cross country running. After the 2018 commonwealth games and started to concentrate on the roads wi ...

in the Kew Gardens 10k at the inaugural Richmond Running Festival. On 13 April 2014 Thompson came 11th in the

2014 London Marathon The 2014 London Marathon was the 34th running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 13 April. The men's elite race was won by Kenyan Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich and the women's race was won by Kenyan Edna Kipla ...

with a race time of 2 hours 11 minutes and 19 seconds. At the 2015 Great Birmingham run, Thompson won a closely contested race finishing the half-marathon in a time of 01:03:00 signalling that his persistent calf injury had finally healed. Thompson won the 2019 Bath half marathon, finishing with a time of 01:03:09. Thompson finished second in the 2020 The Vitality Big HalfElite post-race quotes of The Vitality Big Half 2020
/ref> with a time of 1:01:07 (following Kenenisa Bekele's 1:00:22 course record time). Thompson qualified for the marathon event at the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, after winning the British Marathon Trials at Kew Gardens in London in March 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Chris Living people 1981 births Sportspeople from Barrow-in-Furness English male cross country runners British male cross country runners English male long-distance runners British male long-distance runners English male marathon runners British male marathon runners Olympic male long-distance runners Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics