Saq
Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke the 3,000 metres world record by more than three seconds at the Diamond League meeting in Silesia on Sunday.
The Norwegian finished in 7:17.55, erasing the record set by Kenyan Daniel Komen in 1996, when he ran 7-20.67. It was the oldest men’s athletics world record in individual track events.
The 23-year-old was in shock as he crossed the finish line and looked at his time with his hands on his head in disbelief. Ingebrigtsen was presented with a check for $50,000 and posed with it in front of the clock at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzow, Poland.
“It’s a special feeling, incredible. I was hoping to break the world record here, but because of my training I can never predict exactly what kind of time I’m capable of achieving,” he said.
“I never imagined I could run 7-17. At first the pace was really fast, but then I started to feel comfortable in the race and found a good rhythm.
“[The] “3000m is a difficult distance. After four or five laps you feel the lactic acid but you have to get going again. The conditions were difficult with the heat today but it’s the same for everyone.”
Three days ago, the Norwegian took a little revenge on the American Cole Hocker by winning the 1500m in Lausanne in 3-27.83, two weeks after Hocker had surprised the Olympic field by winning gold in Paris.
Ingebrigtsen finished ahead of a trio of Ethiopians, with Paris Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Berihu Aregawi second with a personal best and the third-fastest time in history (7-21.28). Yomif Kejelcha finished third.
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis also broke his own pole vault world record, clearing 6.26m, eclipsing the previous mark for the 10th time, beating the 6.25m he cleared after defending his Olympic title in Paris earlier this month.
Such is his dominance in the discipline – it is the third time this year that he has broken his own record – that the top 10 marks in the event all belong to the 24-year-old. The second best mark is 6.16m, held by 2012 French Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie.
The Swede easily won the competition at 6.00m and immediately moved the bar to the world record height of 6.26m, clearing it on his second attempt before running onto the track and falling to the ground in celebration.
“I know a lot of people came here to see me jump, so I wanted to put on a good show for them,” Duplantis said.
“This year I focused on the Olympics. The record came naturally because I was in good shape. So I’m not surprised about today’s record, but I’m grateful.”
Britain’s Daryll Neita narrowly missed out on the women’s 100m final after finishing fourth, but her result was an improvement on Thursday’s disappointing seventh place.
After clocking a season-best 10.88 seconds to triumph in the 100m in Lausanne, Dina Asher-Smith did not compete in Silesia after admitting on her Instagram stories on Saturday that her body needed a “bit of a rest”.
Britain’s Jemma Reekie took second place in the women’s 1000m with a time of 2-32.56 to finish just behind Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir, who took first place, while Georgia Bell finished third in the women’s 1500m.
Saq
