Jakob Ingebrigtsen on Friday took less than four minutes to turn himself into a sporting superstar as the youngest-ever European Athletics Championships track winner at the tender age of just 17 — but his family think we have seen nothing yet.
The story of the Ingebrigtsen brothers, Jakob, Filip and Henrik — three very different siblings who became world-class middle-distance runners all under the tutelage of their dad Gjert — has enthralled Norway.
The tale enjoyed its most outlandish chapter yet when all three ran the 1,500m final in the European Championships. Reigning champion Filip was the favorite to triumph, only for little brother Jakob to upstage his elders with his triumph in 3 minutes, 38.1 seconds.
Photo: EPA
Incredibly, it meant that each of the brothers from the small Norwegian city of Sandnes has won the event in the past six years, following 27-year-old Henrik’s win in 2012 and 25-year-old Filip’s victory two years ago in Amsterdam.
However, what has always been a family saga could turn into a one-man show if Jakob, who has long been tipped by his brothers to be the best of them all, carries on like this.
Already the youngest man ever to break the four-minute mile at 16 and having broken the European junior record with a 3 minute, 31.18 second run in Monaco last month, he is now at 17 years and 324 days the youngest track winner in 84 years at the Europeans.
His family reckon his next trick could have come as soon as yesterday night, when he was to run the 5,000m final — naturally, with his two brothers for company again if Filip, who struggled home 12th after his fall and remarkable recovery in the semis, was fit enough.
“Jakob can win there, too. He can become a double champion here,” proud dad Gjert said after also seeing Henrik finish fourth. “He didn’t look tired at the end of his race.”
“It’s quite ridiculous that he’s won — he’s only 17 years old. He leads from 600m and runs just right away from them. I am extremely surprised at the outcome. That’s madness,” Gjert said.
Jakob might be too young to drive a car or buy cigarettes or alcohol in Norway, but his youth and a touch of naivety might be working in his favor, as he sometimes sounds as if he does not know what is hitting him.
After winning, he was so befuddled by the race ending that he had to look up at the big screen for 45 seconds before it actually dawned on him what had just unfolded.
“I was wondering if I missed a lap or something,” he said, but his admiring brothers know he is the real thing.
After posing for photographs with Jakob, who was given a Viking helmet to wear, Henrik, the most flamboyant of the trio with his sunglasses and mohawk, said: “There is nothing that surprises me about him anymore. There is a greater chance that Jakob will win the 5,000m than winning the 1,500m. Then you can do the maths yourself.”
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