Jim Thijs (born 13 June 1980 in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

pro

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...

. At the 2010

Xterra Triathlon XTERRA is a series of cross triathlon races, i.e. three-sport races which include swimming, mountain biking, and trail running. The XTERRA Global Tour is owned and produced by XTERRA Sports Limited. The XTERRA race series is the best-known series ...

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, he finished 10th. In 1995 Thijs raced his first triathlon in

Aarschot Aarschot () is a city and municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises the city of Aarschot proper and the towns of Gelrode, Langdorp and Rillaar. On January 1, 2019, Aarschot had a total popul ...

. He had a very hard time to finish the 750m in

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

, the

breaststroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be s ...

swimmers exited the water with him. From 1996 he started focusing on

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

, leaving the other sports behind him. In 2003, 2004 and 2005 Thijs' main goal was doing

Ironman Iron Man, Ironman or Ironmen may refer to: *Nathaniel "Iron Man" Avery (1939–1985), American caddie for Arnold Palmer *Travis Fulton (1977–2021), American mixed martial arts fighter *Gunnar Graps (1951–2004), Estonian musician *Mick Murphy ...

races. He won Ironman Malaysia and Ironman Lanzarote in the 18–24 age group. He qualified for

Ironman Hawaii The Ironman World Championship has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978, with an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culmination of a series of Ironman triathlon qualification ...

twice. Finishing 87th was his best result. After 3 years of Ironman training Thijs decided to stop practicing triathlon and start doing mountainbiking instead. In his first Xterra races, Thijs was able to place himself amongst the best of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. He evolved from a European top level racer to a world class racer, finishing 10th at the 2010 Xterra World Championships in

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

Xterra

Thijs competes in

cross triathlon Cross triathlon, or off-road triathlon, is a form of triathlon, or three-stage race, consisting of a swim stage, mountain-biking stage, and a trail-running stage. Cross triathlons are distinguished from conventional triathlons in that the terra ...

: like triathlon there is swimming, biking and running involved but it's mountainbiking and

trail running Trail running is a sport-activity which combines running, and, where there are steep gradients, hiking, that is run "on any unpaved surface". It is similar to both mountain and fell running (also known as hill running). Mountain running may, h ...

on mountains, hills and in rivers instead of racing with a racing bike and running on the road. Xterra triathlon is the name of the series of offroad races around the world.

Main results

* 2x National Juniors Duathlon Champion (1998–2000) * 4th World Championships Junior Duathlon (2000) * 1st Ironman Malaysia age-group 18–24 (2004) * 4th (87th overall) Ironman Hawaii age-group 18–24 (2004) * 1st Ironman Lanzarote age-group 18–24 (2005) * Ironman Hawaii finisher 2005 * 3 podium results on national Elite Championships * 13 top 10 finishes in Xterra World Cup races * 4th Xterra European Championships (2008) * 13th Xterra World Championships (2008) * 5 wins in 2008

Results 2010

* 1st off-road duathlon Zolder * 1st aquatlon Bergen op Zoom * 2nd Charleroi triathlon * 2nd Nato triathlon * 3rd off-road duathlon Putte * 6th European Championships ITU Cross Triathlon * 8th European Championships Xterra Italy * 8th Xterra Portugal * 10th Xterra Czech * 12th Belgian Championship mountainbike Elite Malmédy * 15th Zwintriatlon Knokke (mechanical problems) * 6th Xterra Switzerland * 10th World Championships Xterra in Maui, Hawaii

External links

Official website Jim Thijs

Xterra Planet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thijs, Jim Living people Belgian male triathletes 1980 births Sportspeople from Leuven