Jakob Ingebrigsten won the second Olympic gold of his brilliant career as he took the men’s 5000m title in Paris on Saturday (10) to go with the 1500m crown from three years ago in Tokyo.
The Norwegian showed incredible poise and resilience as he bounced back after a chastising experience in the men’s 1500m final on Tuesday (6), where he faded to a disappointing fourth down the home straight.
But this time he got it right.
He kept closely in touch with the action up front during a critical fourth kilometre, hovering around fifth place for the most part. With 15 athletes still in contention heading into the penultimate lap, a break had to come, and it was Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet who burst clear with 600 metres to go.
Ingebrigtsen was momentarily boxed in, but he quickly extricated himself and by the bell, he was just five metres adrift.
Coming into the last bend, he took over at the front and this time there was no let up. The Norwegian pointed a figure skyward at the finish to signal he was number one and back on top of the world again.
He clocked 13:13.66 to take gold. Kenya's Ronald Kwemoi’s finished fast to win silver in 13.15.04 and the USA's Grant Fisher won bronze in 13:15.13 as Gebrhiwet faded to fifth in 13:15.32.
Still only 23, Ingebrigtsen now has two Olympic, two world and six European golds from outdoor track championships.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics