The SPAR European Cross Country Championships were held last weekend and everything was going perfectly right up until the finish line for French runner Jimmy Gressier who successfully defended his U23 title. Instead of running through the ribbon he fell flat on his face while trying to celebrate and instantly became a relatable meme.
With the end in sight, French cross country runner Jimmy Gressier picked up two French flags to carry across the finish line in celebration. At the last moment, he tried to speed up and slide across the line on his knees.
The ground was wet and muddy. Instead of gracefully gliding across the finish line, Jimmy instantly busted ass and then fell on his face with all of the cameras watching. He dropped the flags. The commentators were laughing. And as soon as the footage hit Twitter, Jimmy Gressier became a relatable meme for anyone who’s ever tried to celebrate success in life only to wind up failing miserably.
Let’s check out the initial clip of Jimmy Gressier completely owning himself at the finish line and then we can check out the best Twitter responses to this incredible FAIL clip.
The celebration didn't go according to plan but his performance was brilliant!
Jimmy Gressier produces a front-running display to defend his title in the U23 race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships. #Tilburg2018 pic.twitter.com/GHuBSOya6w
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) December 9, 2018
The saddest part here is that I’m sure this dude’s a badass athlete. He won back-to-back U23 European championships by successfully defending his title two years in a row. Now, he’ll forever be this guy:
How not to finish a cross country race. 🙈#Tilburg2018 pic.twitter.com/2kJ3I6WOFb
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) December 9, 2018
As you can see, a lot of people find this FAIL pretty damn relatable.
if a 15 second video could sum up my life, it'd be that. https://t.co/WBEznSmgaL
— Elro (@ElroRaps) December 9, 2018
Me tryna slide into the DMs… https://t.co/GdivdBkj0j
— Shawn Wright (@shawnwright94) December 9, 2018
When your EU-approved Brexit deal gets voted down by the Commons https://t.co/4ydUNT2rud
— beardy boy (@joshua_j123) December 9, 2018
Been there, right?
https://twitter.com/The3rand/status/1071956233995730944
https://twitter.com/_Mouse_xx/status/1071861461863952384
This one pretty much sums up 90% of the population, myself included.
https://twitter.com/WesleyBWard/status/1071842186021486594
I definitely don’t miss Finals Week.
Visual description of me passing an exam https://t.co/MrKAffJQPs
— Strangelet 🌻 (@ma_tzy) December 9, 2018
This will not get old https://t.co/O0GnRyAsAk
— Matt Bergin (@MattBergin_) December 9, 2018
They’re not wrong. This might actually be the best race finish ever.
https://twitter.com/roujul/status/1071881135121141760
https://twitter.com/canada_sports/status/1071973645973475328
https://twitter.com/HelenLuvsVSPink/status/1072034270942654466
There are thousands of responses to these tweets and they’re all good. It’s clear that almost everyone on Twitter seems some version of themselves in this finish line FAIL.
Everyone can laugh but at the end of the race he crossed the finish line first and successfully defended his title. He’s the winner. His name is in the books. So he gets the last laugh here despite becoming an overnight meme sensation. (h/t Twitter Moments)