Mohamed Katir from Spain set a European indoor 3000m record of 7:24.68 at the Pas-de-Calais meeting in Lievin, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting, as he followed home Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma, who won in 7:23.81.
In a historic and record-breaking race, both marks were inside the previous world record of 7:24.90 set by Kenya’s Daniel Komen at Budapest 1998.
Katir, 24, who won world 1500m bronze and European 5000m silver last summer, tracked his 22-year-old opponent over the final five laps once the second pacemaker had peeled away.
Grimacing with the effort, Katir was unable to close the distance as his taller opponent, who has one Olympic and two world silver medals at the 3000m steeplechase, ran on relentlessly.
It was the eleventh world record to have been set at the Arena Stade Couvert since home runner Bruno Marie Rose won the European indoor 200m title in 20.36 and provided the highlight of the fifth of seven World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold Meetings in the build-up to the Istanbul 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships from 2-5 March.
“I feel lucky to run,” said Katir whose time even surpassed the European outdoor 3000m record 7:26.62. “I have been preparing for this competition for five months, I have been away from home for a long time just to make this record that I had in mind since 2021.
“I am very happy to break it and I am also happy to do it here in Europe and for me it is incredible since the European record was set in the United States and the European record has to be in Europe.”
The previous European record was held by Katir's compatriot Adel Mechaal who clocked 7:30.82 in New York last February.
Ingebrigtsen, Bol and Warholm in form with Istanbul approaching
Both 400m meeting records were re-written by 400m hurdles specialists as Femke Bol from the Netherlands clocked 50.20 and Norway’s Karsten Warholm rounded off the night with a typically barnstorming effort to clock 45.51 in the men’s race.
Meanwhile Ingebrigtsen, returning to the track where he set the world indoor 1500m record of 3:30.60 last year, had suspected he would not be operating in that region after missing more than a month’s training because of a viral infection.
But after working hard for a victory in 3:32.38 that took him past the 3:33.22 set by Yared Nuguse of the United States at the top of this year’s world rankings he had the look of a relieved and happy man.
Before the race the 22-year-old Norwegian had declared: "My main goal is to figure out where I am at." Job done. And in March he will be at Istanbul for the European Athletics Indoor Championships.
"It was a tough race, but it’s good to get one race in and I am very happy with it,” he said. “So now I’m looking forward to defending my 1500 and 3000m titles at the European indoors.
"The first few laps felt good and in line with my training sessions in the last weeks, but it’s in the second half that you start to feel the training sessions you missed. I was ill for quite a few weeks. I was suffering a lot in the last laps but could still maintain a good pace. My goal here was to test where I am and it’s still fun to race, even if you are not in top shape."
He added with a grin when asked if he would come back to Lievin next year to run sub 3:30: "No, that’s not enough. I'll go for sub-3:28!"
Four days after reducing the Dutch record to 49.96 in Metz, Bol was in dominant form once again – but just unable to get under 50 once more as she came home more than a second clear of Poland’s Anna Kielbasinska in a meeting record of 50.20.
"I would have liked to get 49,” said Bol. "I think it was the second lap that made the difference. It was a tough last 50 metres. But now I will do Europeans for sure."
Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek won the 'B' final in 50.90, a Polish indoor record and the first Pole to break the 51 second-barrier for the indoor 400m.
Warholm, who opened his season with a 45.31 clocking at his home meeting in Ulsteinvik, had thoughts of bettering the European record of 45.05 he shares with Germany’s Thomas Schoenlebe but after passing 200m in 21.3, bang on target, he was unable to find the required pace over the second lap in what was nevertheless another highly encouraging pointer ahead of a prospective appearance in Istanbul.
World leading marks for Istanbul-bound Hodgkinson and Tentoglou
European champion Keely Hodgkinson produced a controlled and remorseless run in the 800m to finish well clear Kenya’s Mary Moraa, who beat her to the Commonwealth title in Birmingham last summer, clocking 1:57.71 to better her own world lead of 1:57.87 set in Torun seven days ago.
Moraa finished well back but still earned an indoor personal best of 2:00.61 with French-based 37-year-old Noelie Yarigo of Benin taking third place in 2:01.47.
Miltiadis Tentoglou is targeting his third successive European indoor long jump title in Istanbul next month and the Greek star was an imperious form, producing four successive jumps in excess of 8.30m, including a world lead of 8.41m in the fourth round.
Many times a runner-up to Tentoglou in major competitions, Sweden's Thobias Montler was a distant second again with 8.06m.
Meanwhile, Armand Duplantis maintained his winning momentum in his third event of the season but cut short his activities after clearing 6.01m at his second attempt, leaving an attempt at bettering his world record of 6.21m for another day.
Duplantis reflected: “This didn’t feel good. It went not how I wanted and I can’t really explain why. My body just didn’t responded how I wanted. I started my competition with some bad jumps and never really came into the competition. It’s not that I was tired or that I did very heavy training sessions, but I just went all over the place in my run-up. Now I need some recovery, but my goal is still to beat the world record this winter.”
Mike Rowbottom for European Athletics