JULY 20-21 @ATHLETICSWEEKLY
IT IS hard to forget Jakob
Ingebrigtsen is still only 18. As the
teenager took to the start line to
tackle his first 12-and-a-half lap
race of 2019, he looked confident
and ready for a scrap. In addition
to the word ‘fast’ that he has had
tattooed to his arm, he now sports
an extra earring at the top of his
ear, while on his feet he races in the
latest Nike splats.
Fresh from his 3:30.16 1500m
PB in Monaco, he must have cut
an intimidating figure to Hagos
Gebrhiwet. Especially when he
blasted into the lead in the closing
stages with one eye on the victory
and another on a possible sub-13-
minute clocking.
Gebrhiwet rose to the challenge,
though, out-kicking Ingebrigtsen
narrowly to win in 13:01.86 as
Ingebrigtsen ran a European
under-20 and Norwegian senior
record of 13:02.03.
Gebrhiwet is certainly in
impressive form this year and had
beaten Selemon Barega and Yomif
Kejelcha in the Ethiopian world
10,000m trial in 26:48.95 inHengelo just three days earlier.
“It was a very competitive race
and I pushed all the way to the
line, I found it very difficult,” said
Gebrhiwet.Ingebrigtsen is not one to rest
on his laurels, though, saying:
“I’m definitely able to go under 13
minutes. I was hoping for a PB, but a
national record is better. Gebrhiwethas a much quicker PB than me. Of
course he’s a great athlete but I’m
on my way to becoming better.”
Andy Butchart also excelled as
he improved his Scottish record
to 13:06.21. “I’ll take that!” he said,
before saying that he now plans to
head to Font Romeu for a spell of
altitude training.
The 27-year-old is also thriving
again after calling time on a
coaching relationship with Terrence
Mahon in the United States and
returning to the UK. Now in charge
of his own training but with several
trusted advisers to bounce ideas
off, he believes he can break the
13-minute barrier in future and
improve on the sixth place he
achieved in the Rio Olympics final.
Butchart was not the only Brit in
form either. Ben Connor (13:19.47)
and Alex Yee (13:29.18) clocked PBs
as well with Connor’s time being a
qualifying mark for Doha.
For Connor it follows his fine run
at the Night of the 10,000m PBs,
while for Yee it was a good chance
to test his track speed in the middle
of a busy triathlon season.Young Ingebrigtsen excels
DANIEL STÅHL won the discus in a meeting record
of 68.56m but all eyes were on British record-
holder Lawrence Okoye (right), as he made his
first competitive appearance since 2012 and
threw 60.80m to be ninth and one place ahead of
up-and-coming fellow Brit Greg Thompson.
Okoye has been absent from athletics
since London 2012 in order to play American
Football and, while he is still living in the
United States, he says he is having fun on his
return to athletics and is targeting the British
Championships next month in Birmingham.
“I’m just having some fun. I’m taking it day by day, he said. Right now I m just
recovering from an injury so wanted to pick up a discus and see how it goes.”
Okoye, who still lives in the United States, says he began practising with a discus again
about six to seven weeks ago. “Obviously it’s not long enough to be at my best but I think
if I work to come back then I can get back to good throws,” he said, adding that he hopes
to compete at the British Championships.“I’m just having some fun. I’m taking it day by day,” he said. “Right now I’m justStåhl wins as
Okoye returns
Hagos
Gebrhiwet:
out-kicked
his teenage
rival over
5000mDaniel Ståhl: meeting record of 68.56m