Ingebrigtsen Wins 4th Straight European 5,000 Gold on Comeback
The Norwegian, racing for the first time since Achilles surgery, kicked past Germany's Florian Bremm in the final 50 meters at the European championships in Birmingham.
BIRMINGHAM, England — Jakob Ingebrigtsen won his fourth consecutive 5,000-meter title at the European championships on Monday, in his first race since surgery this year on his left Achilles tendon.
The two-time Olympic champion from Norway had not competed since the operation to clean up scar tissue on the protective sheath around the tendon. Sitting third down the stretch, he accelerated over the final 50 meters to pass Florian Bremm of Germany and cross the line in 13 minutes, 15.29 seconds. Bremm took silver and France's Etienne Daguinos was third.
"Coming from the lowest of lows to be European champion again means the world to me," Ingebrigtsen said. "Not even I believed it could happen coming here. Only with 600 meters to go I knew I would win."
He added: "I doubted myself every day coming in to this and every minute leading up to the last lap today, but I'm always hoping to do my best."
Daguinos called him "a legend of our sport." Bremm said he looked to both sides and thought, "Oh yes I have it for sure," before being passed. "He proved he's faster than everyone else even after the injury," Bremm said.
Ingebrigtsen is not entered in the 1,500 meters in Birmingham, an event he has won alongside the 5,000 at each of the past three European championships. The Achilles problem appeared to affect him at last September's world championships in Tokyo, where he failed to advance out of the first round of the 1,500 and finished 10th in the 5,000 final.
In the women's 100 meters, Britain's Amy Hunt won in 11 seconds, edging Poland's Ewa Swoboda (11.02) and Belgium's Delphine Nkansa (11.06). Defending champion Dina Asher-Smith was fifth in 11.10. Hunt took silver in the 100 at the Commonwealth Games two weeks ago and silver in the 200 at last September's world championships.
Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands won a third straight shot put title with a throw of 20.73 meters at Alexander Stadium, ahead of teammate Jorinde van Klinken (19.64) and Germany's Yemisi Mabry (19.50), the 2024 Olympic champion. Schilder, who threw 21.09 in Shanghai in May, said she competed with an injured finger and called this her "easiest" of three European golds.
Italy's Leonardo Fabbri defended his men's shot put title at 22.31 meters, with teammate Zane Weir second and Sweden's Wictor Petersson third.
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
