SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Jakob Ingebrigtsen won gold in the men’s 5,000 meters at the Paris Olympics on Saturday by going to the front midway through the last lap and pulling away down the stretch, making up for his surprising fourth-place finish in the 1,500 days earlier.
“When you hit a wall, and don’t perform the way you want to, it’s very difficult,” said Ingebrigtsen, a 23-year-old from Norway. “But … I got another shot. I just had to make the most of it.”
He did just that, completing the 12 1/2 laps around the Stade de France’s purple track in 13 minutes, 13.66 seconds — 1.38 seconds faster than silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi of Kenya.
Grant Fisher of the U.S. was third in 13:15.13, giving him his second bronze of the 2024 Olympics, to go with the one he picked up in the 10,000 on Aug. 2.
Ingebrigtsen raised the index finger on his right hand aloft in a No. 1 gesture as he added this 5,000 victory — in a relatively slow race — to the gold he won in the 1,500 at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
His defense in the shorter event on Tuesday after setting a swift early pace did not go well. That was supposed to be a much-hyped head-to-head showdown between the Olympic champ (Ingebrigtsen) and world champ in the 1,500 (Josh Kerr) — two guys who do not like each other and don’t try to hide it — but a lesser-known American, Cole Hocker, came from well back to grab a surprising gold medal.
Kerr claimed the silver for Britain, and Ingebrigtsen ended up with no medal at all.
This time, the pacing worked to Ingebrigtsen’s advantage. He bided his time, hanging in the middle of the pack as other runners took turns leading the way through easy-for-them laps that often took more than 65 seconds.
“I just tried to stay calm,” Ingebrigtsen said. “Went for it. I was able to catch up.”
It was with about 300 meters to go that he decided to take charge, quickly moving to the front and only adding to the space between himself and other competitors.
By the end of the race, which is 3.1 miles, his bright orange racing shoes carried him to a 15-meter lead and he thrust his right hand overhead to make sure everyone saw what place he came in this time.
Good as he’s been at the 1,500, the 5,000 might very well be his stronger race — he won it at the past two world championships, after all. And now this gold might allow him to erase that Olympics flub in the 1,500.
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