- Jakob Ingebrigtsen claimed the 3,000-meter title at the European Athletics Indoor Championships on Saturday night, becoming the youngest man to ever win a gold medal in the history of the championships.
- Ingebrigtsen edged out Britain’s Chris O’Hare and his own brother, Henrik, to finish first in the race.
- His latest win comes just over a week after he broke the junior 1500-meter world record at the PSD Bank Meeting indoor track invitational in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Teenager Jakob Ingebrigtsen continued his winning streak against some of the best track stars in the world at the European Athletics Indoor Championships on Saturday night. The 18-year-old track phenom from Norway became the youngest male gold medalist in the history of the championships when he claimed the 3,000-meter title in Glasgow.
Ingebrigtsen brought home Norway’s first ever gold medal at the indoor championship with a winning time of 7:56.15, comfortably ahead of a tight battle for silver. Ingebrigtsen’s older brother Henrik and Britain’s Chris O’Hare both threw themselves over the finish line, where O’Hare emerged as the runner-up in 7:57.19, three thousandths of a second ahead of Ingebrigtsen.
“It wasn’t easy, there were a lot of elbows,” Ingebrigtsen told the IAAF. “But I think the others had respect for us, and they handed it to us so we could make it our race.”
Both Ingebrigtsen brothers took control of the race early by establishing an initial lead together. The youngest brother ran the first 1500-meters in 4:11 and ramped it up to 3:45 when he dropped the competition in the final two laps of the race. O’Hare was the only competitor to follow the pace of the Norwegian brothers.
“He was born with a runner’s head,” Ingebrigtsen’s coach and father Gjert told European Athletics after watching his son win his third senior European title with ease.
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Last summer, Ingebrigtsen claimed the 1500 meter and 5,000-meter crowns at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin. Prior to his performance, no runner in history had ever managed to complete the 1500-5,000-meter title sweep at the meet, and Ingebrigtsen did it as the youngest athlete ever to win at the European championships.
Ingebrigtsen will attempt to claim his second title of the indoor championship when he competes in the 1500 meters on Sunday.
Taylor Dutch is a sports and fitness writer living in Chicago; a former NCAA track athlete, Taylor specializes in health, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in SELF, Runner’s World, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner. When she’s not writing, Taylor volunteers as a coach to up-and-coming runners in the Chicago area.
