Jonas Raess

Jonas Raess (born 8 March 1994) is a Swiss long-distance runner. He competed in the 5000 metres at the 2020 Olympics. Additionally, he earned a gold medal at the 2019 Universiade. Currently, he holds the national title for the 5000 metres and national records for the indoor and outdoor 3000 metres as well as the indoor 5000 metres.

Career and background Jonas Raess began his professional career much later on, around 2019, once he had completed his education and graduated with a bachelor's degree. The earlier half of his career was plagued by injuries, which caused Swiss Athletics to remove him from its youth team at a certain point.

He credits his mother for getting him into running when he was young. He entered into an annual running event for children and that sparked his interest in the sport. He did road races but never ran on a track until 2004. He was invited to join TV Unterstrass and trained at the club under Hansruedi Ilg. Then, he changed to LC Regensdorf where Ruedi Meier coached him. He is also a member of the On Athletics Club that is led by American long-distance runner and head coach Dathan Ritzenhein.

2011 Raess made his international debut at the 2011 European Youth Olympic Festival in Trabzon, Turkey and finished in 13th place in the 3000 metres.

2023: 3000 metres record

Raess set a new Swiss record in the 3000 metres on 10 September 2023 at the Hanžeković Memorial in Zagreb, Croatia. Markus Ryffel, the legendary Swiss long-distance runner and Olympic silver medalist in the 5000 metres, held the previous record for 44 years, ever since July 1979. Raess erased almost 6 seconds off Ryffel's time, bringing it down from 7:41.00 to 7:35.12.

Achievements Information from his World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.

International competitions

National championships