It is a scene that has become gloriously familiar down the years. Jakob Ingebrigtsen leaving the world’s best athletes gasping in his slipstream, holding one imperious finger in the air, revelling in his athletic genius. But this victory over 5,000m at the inaugural Ultimate Championships carried extra sweetness – and spice.
The sweetness? That came from winning a mammoth first prize of $150,000 after an achilles injury he feared might derail his career. And the spice? Well, that was provided by the way Ingebrigtsen utterly obliterated his great American rival Cole Hocker, a man he had branded a “coward” just a week ago.
Ingebrigtsen has never been shy of venturing an opinion, and he was aggrieved when Hocker insisted on having his own pacemaker for the 1500m Diamond League final – and then refused to follow him. That led to a high-profile war of words, and a rematch that was the talk of Budapest.
And, my, did it live up to the hype. The pace was quick, but the Norwegian was so confident he had time to look around twice on the final lap before launching a devastating final kick to win in 12min 59.24sec, with Hocker, the reigning 5,000m world champion, nearly a second back.
“I was predicted number 12 by World Athletics can you imagine?” said a bemused Ingebrigtsen, who is the Olympic champion at this distance after all.
Ingebrigtsen was then asked whether it was not only sweet to beat Hocker but … yet before the questioner had finished formulating his sentence, the Norwegian replied “but to crush him” before smiling.
His time over the final lap was a rapid 54.39sec, while over the last 100m it was 12.6 – which was particularly impressive given he was only able to step up his comeback from injury in July.
“Being injured I was fearing the worst outcome and did not know if I would be able to run at all, especially at this level,” he said. “This is amazing, I am extremely happy.
“I had a big hiccup in early May, with the flu, where I was not able to train properly. So I really started training in July but you can’t fake fitness. Fitness is very honest in terms of training. The guy that puts in the best amount of work for the longest period of time is usually the best runner.
“But I’ve gained quite a lot from the last couple of races that I’ve done. I felt stronger, stronger, smoother, smoother, and that gave me a lot of hope.”
Ingebrigtsen, though, was non-committal over whether he will race in Sunday’s 1500m against Josh Kerr. “I’ve been drinking a lot of coffee until now, so get a good night’s sleep and see how I feel tomorrow.”
There was British success too on the first night of the Ultimate Championships with Jazmin Sawyers coming second to the Italian Larissa Iapichino in the women’s jump with a final leap of 6.78m. That capped a fine season for Sawyers, who also won Commonwealth gold and European silver, and it also made her $75,000 (£55,000) richer.
“It’s an incredible amount of money,” admitted Sawyers. “Prize money like this just means a big sigh of relief … I will buy something – I’m going to upgrade my sewing machine.”
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There was also a bronze for the British 4x100m mixed relay team behind the USA and Jamaica, much to the delight of Success Eduan, who anchored the British team.
At some point next week, Eduan will deliver the four babies she requires to complete her BSc in midwifery. But she said that her share of the $25,000 prize – around £4,730 – would help her start paying off her student debts.
“I’m finishing hopefully next week,” she said. “I still have one more placement. I’ve got four more left to deliver, I arrive in Manchester on Monday afternoon, and I have a Monday night shift that day. Three nights, so I finish on Thursday morning.”
There are still two days left at these Ultimate Championships, but this was an encouraging start. It was faster paced than the recent European championships. It also looked the part with a black infield and bright lights. There were plenty of impressive performances too, with Mondo Duplantis’s 6.25m leap to win the pole vault one of the standouts.
Keely Hodgkinson also made an impressive return in his first run back to win her semi-final in 1:57.57 before delivering her trademark clap. She will face her two main rivals Audrey Werro and Femke Broeders-Bol in Saturday’s final.
On the downside, it was cold. Cold enough, in fact, that the Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh wore sleeping bags between her jumps. Not that it unduly bothered her as she took victory in 1.99m.