Mumbai: Two indoor world records. Winning the 1500m and 3000m events at the European Indoor Championships for the third consecutive time. It’s incredible to think what Jakob Ingebrigtsen has accomplished in just the first three months of 2025.
It could end up being an even more rewarding season, particularly if the Norwegian star succeeds in becoming world champion in his favourite event, the 1500 metres, for the first time later this year in Tokyo. “Yes, that’s definitely the goal for the season,” Ingebrigtsen revealed during an online interaction from Nanjing, where he will be competing in the World Indoor Championships this weekend.
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In each of the last two editions of the World Championships, the double Olympic champion had to settle for silver in the 1500m. He would love nothing more than to go one better this time at Tokyo, where he in fact triumphed in the 1500m for his first Olympic gold at the rescheduled 2020 Summer Games.
“Like always, I try to do as good as I can, try to participate as much as possible, but ultimately the 1500 metres is my main event and my favourite event. So that’s always going to be the main focus and the main goal,” Ingebrigtsen added.
“Of course, I will try to participate in the 5000 and 3000 metres as well. As long as it doesn’t impact my 1500 metre races in a negative way, I’m going to do both. And I’m still focusing on it and trying to improve as much as I can. I’ve seen improvement in my personal best the last couple years and I’m still a big believer that I can continue that for many years in the future.”
Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s achievements
At the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin, France last month, the 24-year-old broke the indoor 1500m world record, clocking three minutes and 29.63 seconds, bettering the previous mark (3:30.60) which he himself had set on the same track three years ago. Asked about the prospect of eclipsing Hicham El Guerrouj’s 1500m world record (3:26:00) which has stood since 1998, Ingebrigtsen said he still had some way to go.
“I would say I’m a person that often races against myself, and for records and time goals. I think that’s also pretty accurate, that I’m always trying to improve my own personal bests,” said Ingebrigtsen, whose personal best (3:26:73) makes him one of only four men in history to have run the 1500m under 3:27.
“Obviously, I’m fortunate enough to have improved quite a lot in most distances. So if I break a record in the 1500 or 5000 metre, I’m not going to stop trying to improve. But obviously, there are some records that’ve been standing for a longer time than others,” he said.
“The 1500 has been unreachable for a very long time. So, of course, that would be a nice record to beat. But at the same time, it’s still quite far down to that record — 7/10ths of a second. So I’m just trying to improve my own times. And eventually if I’m able to do that, we will obviously reach some records.”
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