It is a scene that has become gloriously familiar down the years. Jakob Ingebrigtsen leaving the world’s best athletes gasping in his slipstream, holding one imperious finger in the air, revelling in his athletic genius. But this victory over 5,000m at the inaugural Ultimate Championships carried extra sweetness – and spice.
That came from winning a mammoth first prize of $150,000 after an achilles injury he feared might derail his career. Well, that was provided by the way Ingebrigtsen utterly obliterated his great American rival Cole Hocker, a man he had branded a “coward” just a week ago. Ingebrigtsen has never been shy of venturing an opinion, and he was aggrieved when Hocker insisted on having his own pacemaker for the 1500m Diamond League final – and then refused to follow him.
That led to a high-profile war of words, and a rematch that was the talk of Budapest. And, my, did it live up to the hype. The pace was quick, but the Norwegian was so confident he had time to look around twice on the final lap before launching a devastating final kick to win in 12min 59.24sec, with Hocker, the reigning 5,000m world champion, nearly a second back.
Ingebrigtsen was then asked whether it was not only sweet to beat Hocker but … yet before the questioner had finished formulating his sentence, the Norwegian replied “but to crush him” before smiling. His time over the final lap was a rapid 54.39sec, while over the last 100m it was 12.6 – which was particularly impressive given he was only able to step up his comeback from injury in July. So I really started training in July but you can’t fake fitness.
Fitness is very honest in terms of training. The guy that puts in the best amount of work for the longest period of time is usually the best runner. I felt stronger, stronger, smoother, smoother, and that gave me a lot of hope.” Ingebrigtsen, though, was non-committal over whether he will race in Sunday’s 1500m against Josh Kerr.
That capped a fine season for Sawyers, who also won Commonwealth gold and European silver, and it also made her $75,000 (£55,000) richer. At some point next week, Eduan will deliver the four babies she requires to complete her BSc in midwifery. But she said that her share of the $25,000 prize – around £4,730 – would help her start paying off her student debts.
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