by Stuart WeirThe 3000m was one of the most exciting races of the weekend. With the Ingrigtsen brothers and Team GBR doing battle, the story was more and more interesting. This is how Stuart Weir saw the battle over 3000 meters on Saturday night at the Emirates Arena.
The battle fo 3000m, photo by Getty Images/ European Athletics
Men’s 3000m
With three GB athletes in the men’s 3000m alongside two Norwegian brothers, the race was billed as the Brits against the Ingebrits. What a race it was. The Ingebrigtsens dominated the race with initially Henrik leading from Jakob before the younger brother took over. But they could not shake off Scotland’s Chris O’Hare. With 150 to go it was clear that Jakob had the race but Henrik could move away from O’Hare. The Scot attacked on the home straight and seemed to have taken the silver until Henrik dived for the line.
After an anxious wait, O’Hare got silver as the official results came up
Jakob Ingebrigtsen 7:56.15
Chris O’Hare 7:57.185
Henrik Ingebrigtsen 7:57.188
Jakob said: “It wasn´t easy, there were a lot of elbows. It was a really good competition with good athletes and I’m glad to be on the podium. Some races start with a high pace but this wasn´t like that. I think the others had respect for us and they handed it to us so that we could make it our race. I am 16 minutes past my bedtime, but it´s an amazing day”.
O’Hare commented afterwards: “I’m happy I split up the Ingebrigtsen’s and just being back on the medal podium is great. It’s been 4 years since I’ve been on the podium and it’s been a hard 4 years but I wouldn’t change it, it’s made me the person I am today and hopefully this is another step forward. With 200m to go I thought I’ve got bronze and tried to give it everything I had to be on Henrik’s shoulder, and it took me a lot to get on his shoulder, but then round the bend the crowd just erupted and it does kind of pick you up and chuck you towards the line. Obviously, every medal is different by way of what it took to get there – I got my first 2 as a rooky on the scene, now I’m kind of the old boy so it’s good to kind of get back on medal standing and be rewarded for 4 years hard work”.
Henrik’s amusing reaction was: “I knew Chris was coming as I saw it on the big screen and I just thought I´m going to go for it. I just dived and I think I gained two hundredths doing that. I jumped for it. I saw him coming past me and I gave it my all. I watched a lot of the (tv show) MacGyver growing up so I just did the MacGyver jump. I think I deserve to own half of Jakob´s medals. So in my mind, I won one bronze and half a gold medal. We prepared for everything but we didn´t plan anything. I felt we controlled the race from start to finish. We controlled the pace and our positions and waited for the bell to ring. The most important thing is that we won today, Team Norway won today”.
The Ingebrigtsens are an amazing running family and Jakob a staggering talent, European indoor and outdoor champion and he is only 18! Chris O’Hare is a talented athlete who hoped last year for medals in World Indoors, Commonwealth and Europeans but was never fully fit. It is great to see him fit and in form in 2019.
