Norwegian back to winning ways with 3:27.83 as Emmanuel Wanyonyi runs swift 1:41.11 for 800m and there are British wins for Dina Asher-Smith and Matt Hudson-Smith at the Diamond League
Jakob Ingebrigtsen arrived in Lausanne on Thursday (Aug 22) with a point to prove. After finishing outside the medals in the Olympic 1500m final, he was determined to re-assert himself. Could he beat the man who won in Paris, though?
The answer was ‘yes’ as he saw off the challenge of Cole Hocker in a meeting record of 3:27.83 as the American ran 3:29.85 in second place, just ahead of US team-mate Hobbs Kessler (3:30.47) in third.
Unlike Paris, Ingebrigtsen had help from pacemakers and Wavelight technology in Lausanne. Zan Rudolf led through 400m in 55.21 and 800m in 1:51.14 before Luke McCann took the runners through to the bell.
Ingebrigtsen had held off the pace by a fraction with Kessler and then Hocker following him. But on the last lap he turned the screw and, with 200m to go, he began to pull away from Kessler and, crucially, Hocker allowed a gap to grow as he was forced to either stay in third around the final bend or move out wide.
Entering the home straight Ingebrigtsen was away and clear and drew further away. At the finish the two men shared a few friendly words and hopefully there will be more clashes this season, with Olympic silver and bronze medallists Josh Kerr and Yared Nuguse expected to join in a re-run of the Olympic final in Zurich on September 5.
Ingebrigtsen said: “It’s been almost two weeks since Paris so there was plenty of time to recover. For me a lot of it has been mental including going home, taking some easy days and then getting back to work. Tonight’s race gave me good answers and I’m looking forward to building on this for my next race on Sunday and the rest of the season.”
Hocker said: “The time is my second best ever, so I can’t complain. Considering the overwhelming past two weeks, it was a solid race. Physically I felt comfortable, but mentally, it’s a new challenge being announced as Olympic champion.”
Emmanuel Wanyonyi (Getty)
There was no world record in the men’s 800m but Emmanuel Wanyonyi came close to David Rudisha’s 1:40.91 as he clocked a world lead and Diamond League record of 1:41.11 to go equal second on the world all-time rankings with Wilson Kipketer.
Ludovic le Meur led through the bell in 49.3 with world champion and Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop of Canada in close pursuit and Wanyonyi third.
But Arop had…
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