Norwegian wins world indoor 1500m gold on Sunday as Gudaf Tsegay storms to the women’s title while Brits Neil Gourley and Georgia Hunter Bell make the podium
When Jakob Ingebrigtsen arrived in Nanjing a few days ago, he had never won a gold medal at the World Indoor Championships. Yet after a busy weekend he now has two after adding the 1500m title on Sunday (March 23) to the 3000m crown he captured 24 hours earlier.
Ingebrigtsen has been out-kicked in major championships in recent years. Samuel Tefera, for example, beat him to the world indoor title three years ago in Belgrade. But Ingebrigtsen seemed to have great confidence in his finishing speed in Nanjing and in the 1500m he clocked 3:38.79 ahead of Britain’s Neil Gourley and America’s Luke Houser.
The early pace was slow as Sam Prakl of the United States passed 400m in 62 seconds. Ingebrigtsen took the lead just before 700m and passed 800m in 2:02. Then he began to wind things up.
On the final lap the 24-year-old held off Isaac Nader, the Portuguese runner eventually fading to fourth. Gourley ran a smart race, deliberately shadowing Ingebrigtsen in the early stages, before using his strong finish to take silver in 3:39.07.
Ingebrigtsen said: “There were nine strong runners and everyone was ready to give their best. It was fun out there. I really enjoy the sport of running and at the end of the day it’s a competition.”
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Getty)
Ingebrigtsen became only the second man in history after Haile Gebrselassie to win two gold medals in individual events at the World Indoor Championships. He said: “Of course this is something special. It’s a very difficult to compare yourself against history and what others are doing. I’m only focusing on myself and I feel good to have done a lot of preparations, and that was always the main goal. It’s not to do with something somebody else did before.
“I think I can do more, so I’ll try to maximise that and grab the opportunity given to me. The goal is to participate as much as I can. It’s definitely important to use the opportunities and not take anything for granted.”
After finishing fourth in Apeldoorn earlier this month, Gourley said: “I had a point to prove after the European Indoor Champs. Not so much to anyone else, but moreso to myself and my team who helped me get here.
“Here I fed off Jakob’s momentum rather than looking behind waiting for him to come through.”
Looking back at 2024, he said: “I…
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