by Larry Eder
Jakob Ingebrigtsen is one of the most popular athletes in the world.
In Norway, he is a total rockstar with his brothers, Filip and Henrik.
Jakob took gold in the 5,000m and silver in the 1,500m at the 2023 World Champs Budapest, just like he did in 2022 Eugene.
At the 2023 Nike Pre Classic, Jakob Ingebrigtsen showed his stuff, running the best-finest mile performance in 24 years with a fine 3:43.73, AR, with Yared Nuguse just behind in the American record. The very next day, Jakob had told me at the presser on the previous Friday that he was really looking forward to the 3,000m. His comments were prescient, as he ran a European Record of 7:23.63, holding off Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia.
Just after that race, Jakob injured his Achilles, and it seems to be still acting up.
We knew it was serious when he withdrew from the European Athletics Cross Country Champs, a race he had not missed since 2015. In fact, at the Pre Classic, Jakob told this writer that he would be competing in the EA Cross Country Champs.
In a translated piece from the Norwegian newspaper, Dagsavisen, https://www.dagsavisen.no/sport/2024/01/12/jakob-ingebrigtsen-star-over-innendors-vm-i-friidrett/, Jakob noted in a press release, Jakob noted that he had an Achilles injury and he would be missing the World Indoor Champs in Glasgow, Scotland.
Jakob also noted, in the release; ” know my body, and it sometimes happens that it needs a little extra time to heal before I start with hard loads. I’ve been struggling a bit with an achilles and have therefore trained a bit alternatively. Now, I’m on my way back, but I don’t want to take any risks. Therefore, I run my own scheme a little more. I know that works. For me, it’s EC and Olympic medals that matter”.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen is a popular racer, having set a WR at the 2000 meters (4:53.14) and a WR for 2 miles at 7:54.10 in 2023. As the distance gets longer, Jakob gets better. His favorite seems to be the 1,500m and 5,000m. In the last two years, Jakob has taken gold in both 5,000 meters in Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2023, and silver in both 1,500ms, having been beaten by two Scotsmen, Jake Wightman in 2022 and Josh Kerr in 2023, who are from the same running club, Edinburgh AC.
One of the most confident, talented and colorful athletes in athletics, we at RunBlogRun wish Jakob Ingebrigtsen a fast and complete recovery. We sure want to see him in the European Champs in Rome 2024 and Paris 2024 Olympics!
In the release, it was also noted that Jakob would stay back in Norway to train and that Filip and Henrik would be doing a warm-weather training site in Spain.
