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.”
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS