BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Jakob Ingebrigtsen showed plenty of kick on his comeback from injury by winning his fourth consecutive 5,000-meters title at the European championships Monday.
The two-time Olympic champion from Norway hadn’t raced since having surgery early this year to clean up scar tissue on the protective sheath around his left Achilles tendon.
Down the stretch, Ingebrigtsen was in third place before accelerating in the final 50 meters
to pass Florian Bremm of Germany and cross the line in 13 minutes, 15:29 seconds. Bremm was second followed by France’s Etienne Daguinos.
“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.
“I am starting to feel more like myself,” 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. I’ve tried my best, and the last three weeks was very smooth.”
The Norwegian's rivals could only marvel at his abilities. Daguinos called him “a legend of our sport.”
Bremm said he looked to both sides “and I thought, ‘Oh yes I have it for sure,” before Ingebrigtsen passed him.
“He proved he’s faster than everyone else even after the injury,” Bremm said.
Ingebrigtsen is not racing in the 1,500 meters in Birmingham. He’s won both the 1,500 and 5,000 at the past three European championships.
The Achilles problem seemed to be a factor in Ingebrigtsen’s performance 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.
Amy Hunt of Britain got just enough separation to win the women's 100 meters in 11 seconds, edging Poland's Ewa Swoboda (11.02) and Belgium's Delphine Nkansa (11.06). Hunt's teammate Dina Asher-Smith (11.10), the defending champion, was fifth.
Hunt won silver in the 100 at the Commonwealth Games two weeks ago. She was also the silver medalist in 200 at the world championships last September.
Netherlands star Jessica Schilder made it three in a row in the shot put, taking gold with a throw of 20.73 meters at Alexander Stadium.
The reigning world champion's teammate Jorinde van Klinken (19.64) won silver, and 2024 Olympic champion Yemisi Mabry (19.50) of Germany was third.
“I will never get tired of this feeling, I will never get bored of winning these medals,” Schilder said. “I had the confidence going into this that even though I was competing with an injured finger I was capable of doing well here. It was a little bit about battling and pushing through the pain today.”
Schilder is the only woman this decade to surpass 21 meters when she threw 21.09 at the Shanghai Diamond League in May.
Schilder won gold at the past two European championships: 2024 in Rome and 2022 in Munich. She called this one the “easiest” of the three.
“There was quite a gap with the other competitors,” she said.
For the men's shot put, Leonardo Fabbri defended his title with a throw of 22.31, and his Italian teammate Zane Weir took silver. Sweden's Wictor Petersson was third.
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