Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen became just the fourth athlete in history to break the 3:27-barrier for 1500m, taking his European record from 3:27.14 down to a world lead of 3:26.73 in the Monaco Diamond League on Friday (12) evening.
Ingebrigtsen kicked hard just before the bell and the 23-year-old uncorked a scintillating last lap of 54.0 which propelled Ingebrigtsen to the sixth fastest time in history as well as the world’s fastest time since 2015.
This was the fourth time Ingebrigtsen has broken the European outdoor 1500m record since 2021 and he now has ownership of the six fastest outdoor times in history by a European athlete among numerous other accolades.
“I see that I am increasing my potential every year. It is really important for athletes to believe in what they are doing. When you achieve great results, it is easier to be confident for the future competitions,” said Ingebrigtsen who now turns his focus to the Olympic Games in Paris where he has entered both the 1500m and 5000m.
“I am excited about Paris. I feel strong, I will do my best and hopefully bring home the gold medal.”
Aside from reigning world champion Josh Kerr, all of Ingebrigtsen’s principal rivals were in Monaco and the reigning Olympic champion brushed them aside with an irresistible last 450 metres, winning by two seconds from Kenyans Timothy Cheruiyot (3:28.71) and Brian Komen (3:28.80) with Yared Nuguse from the United States fourth in 3:29.13.
Niels Laros, who smashed the world U20 1000m record in Hengelo last weekend and could have challenged Ingebrigtsen’s European U20 record of 3:30.47 from 2019 tonight, saw his race come to an unfortunate end in the first 300 metres after a heavy fall.
Huge national record performances from Attaoui and Moser
In yet another super fast men’s 800m race, Spain’s Mohamed Attaoui made a significant improvement in finishing second behind Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati who won in a world lead of 1:41.46.
The European silver medallist slashed more than two seconds off his previous lifetime best of 1:44.35, taking down the Spanish record in the process with 1:42.04 to move to fourth on the European all-time list behind Wilson Kipketer (1:41.11), Gabriel Tual (1:41.61) and Sebastian Coe (1:41.73).
Only five days after clocking his breakthrough 1:41.61 in Paris, Tual - who won the European title in Rome earlier this summer - consolidated that performance with a third-place finish in 1:42.10.
World bronze medallist Ben Pattison was also rewarded with a big lifetime best of 1:42.27 in fifth while Andreas Kramer improved his Swedish record again, finishing seventh in 1:43.13.
In the pole vault, European champion Angelica Moser from Switzerland matched joint world champion Nina Kennedy from Australia height-for-height.
Moser finished second on countback to Kennedy and was rewarded with a 10 centimetre improvement on her previous lifetime best and Swiss record, clearing 4.83m on her first attempt before matching Kennedy with a third-time clearance at 4.88m.
Moser, who also won the European indoor pole vault title in Torun 2021, moves to equal sixth on the European all-time list alongside former world record-holder Svetlana Feofanova.
There was a career-first for Rhasidat Adeleke from Ireland who won her first ever Diamond League race with victory in the 400m in 49.17, the second fastest time of her career, to defeat Lieke Klaver from the Netherlands who was rewarded with a lifetime best of 49.64.