by Stuart Weir
Jakub Ingebrigtsen, Lausanne 2019, photo by PhotoRun.net
Stuart Weir wrote this second piece on the men’s distance races, always a high point of the Athletissima. Watch for more of our pieces to come! Lausanne was an excellent meet.
Men’s 1500m
I sat next to a Swedish middle-distance runner on the bus from the stadium to the hotel tonight. I said that I was not sure what to write about from the Athletissma. She replied “Just write about the Ingebristens!”
Tim Cheruiyot leads Bowerman Mile, photo by PhotoRun.net
So, I am starting with the men’s 1500. Timothy Cheruiyot won it in 3:28.77 a Meeting Record and a world lead. He had gone through 800m in 1:49.4. He said of his race: “Super excited about my time today. The Diamond League is extremely important to me and the competition is intense. And then, there are the World Championships, so it is a long season ahead. I certainly want to win as many as I can especially when I am in such great shape”.
Jakub Ingebrigtsen runs 3:30.16! Lausanne 2019, photo by PhotoRun.net
Jakob Ingebrigtsen was second, finishing strongly to clock a 3:30.16, a PR to move from 5th to 3rd on the world U20 all-time list. He took more than a second off his own European U20 record and also moves him to eighth on the senior European all-time list. Brother Filip was fourth with Ayanleh Souleiman, Djibouti, third.
Jakob said: “This was a good race indeed. This is the kind of race that builds confidence. We [he and brother Filip] want to battle with the best ones, this is why we come to Diamond League events. Our race plan is to go where the best runners are”.
Filip added: “Personally, I want to challenge the European Record this season and of course a medal in Doha. It is clear that achieving such performance so early in the season is very encouraging”.
The brothers added that they had had some doubts about how well they would run in Lausanne as they were suffering from jetlag and fatigue after running in Stamford.
Such was the quality of the race, there was a meeting record, a world lead, a national record, five PRs and six season’s bests among the 13 finishers.
Yomif Kejelcha’s takes the win at 5000m, Lausanne 2019, photo by PhotoRun.net
Yomif Kejelcha (Ethiopia) won the men’s 5,000m in 13:00.56 with Selemon Barega and Telahun Haile Bekele making it a 1-2-3 for Ethiopia. Muktar Edris, the reigning World Champion, was only 18th finishing 29 seconds behind the leader.
Wycliffe Kinyamal won the 800m in 1:43.78 from Ferguson Rotich and Emmanuel Korir for a Kenyan 1-2-3.
He took more than a second off his own European U20 record and also moves him to eighth on the senior European all-time list.
