Education
At the 2010 Triathlon World Championships, he finished 10th.
At the 2010 Triathlon World Championships, he finished 10th.
In 1995 Thijs raced his first triathlon in Aarschot. He had a very hard time to finish the 750m in freestyle, the breaststroke swimmers exited the water with him. From 1996 he started focusing on triathlon, leaving the other sports behind him.
In 2003, 2004 and 2005 Thijs" main goal was doing Ironman races.
He qualified for Ironman Hawaii 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 races, Thijs was able to place himself amongst the best of Europe.
He evolved from a European top level racer to a world class racer, finishing 10th at the 2010 World Championships in Maui, Hawaii.
Thijs competes in cross triathlon: like triathlon there is swimming, biking and running involved but it"s mountainbiking and trail running on mountains, hills and in rivers instead of racing with a racing bike and running on the road. triathlon is the name of the series of offroad races around the world. 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 World Cup races
4th European Championships (2008)
13th World Championships (2008)
5 wins in 2008
1st off-road duathlon Zolder
1st aquatlon Bergen op Zoom
2nd Charleroi triathlon
2nd Nato triathlon
3rd off-road duathlon Putte
6th European Championships International Telecommunication Union Cross Triathlon
8th European Championships Italy
8th Portugal
10th Czechoslovakian
12th Belgian Championship mountainbike Elite Malmédy
15th Zwintriatlon Knokke (mechanical problems)
6th Switzerland
10th World Championships in Maui, Hawaii.