Jakob Ingebrigtsen won his third senior men’s title and his seventh individual title overall at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, Türkiye on Sunday (8).
Still only 24, the Norwegian already sits comfortably among the greats of European distance running and he added another yet chapter to his burgeoning list of accolades in perfect running conditions in Dokuma Park.
Ingebrigtsen untroubled
Looking utterly untroubled, he saw off the best of Europe's other distance runners in serene style, leaving Italy’s two-time U20 winner Yemaneberhan Crippa to win silver to add to the bronze he took five years ago in Lisbon while bronze on this occasion went to event debutant Thierry Ndikumwenayo of Spain.
Crippa made the early running alongside Great Britain’s Hugo Milner – fourth last year in Brussels – with Ingebrigtsen content to keep a watching brief in third in a large lead pack.
On the second lap, Milner pushed the pace on with France's defending champion Yann Schrub, 2016 U23 winner Isaac Kimeli of Belgium and Sweden’s Andreas Almgren, who was fourth in the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships 10,000m and Ingebrigtsen's regular training partner, also able to maintain the pace with Ingebrigtsen, Crippa and Ndikumwenayo.
On penultimate fourth lap, Ingebrigtsen decided it was time to go to the front and raise the tempo. Only Crippa was brave enough to go with him.
From that point, it was highly likely there was only ever going to be one winner, and the peerless Norwegian gradually went through his impressive set of gears and the Roma 2024 half marathon champion Crippa had to settle in for silver.
In the closing straight, Ingebrigtsen looked like he could run all day and crossed the line with plenty left in the tank, clocking 22:16 over the 7832m course while Crippa took a deserved silver medal eight second behind.
"Something special"
"Cross country is something that I really enjoy. It's very different from my other competitions, there's something special and exciting about around 100 people being at the starting line, going for the first turn," reflected Ingebrigtsen.
"There's a lot of fighting and pushing and shoving, there's a lot of things that could happen. The course was so challenging and tactical, as well as technical. It's all about using the energy wisely and trying to manoeuvre," he added.
A tired-looking Ndikumwenayo clung on for bronze in 22:31 while Kimeli fourth (22:33), Almgren fifth (22:34) and Schrub sixth (22:35).
The team title went to Spain with just 18 points. Nassim Hassaous in seventh and Abdessamad Oukhelfen eighth ably supported Ndikumwenayo, with two-time medallist Adel Mechaal also finishing in 10th place.
Last year's senior men's team winners Belgium, led home by Kimeli, took the silver medal this time with 37 points and Great Britain grabbed the bronze with 39 points for their 200th medal in SPAR European Cross Country Championships history.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics