Ingebrigtsen sets new world record for rarely-run 2-mile event
Norway's Olympic
1,500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen set a stunning new world record over 2 miles
at the Diamond League meeting in Paris on Friday.
The 22-year-old
clocked 7min 54.10sec in an incredible display in the rarely-run event, which
is not an acknowledged Olympic or world distance.
The time smashed
the previous best performance of 7:58.61 set by Kenyan Daniel Komen in July
1997 in Hechtel, Belgium.
Ingebrigtsen
becomes just the second athlete after Komen to have covered 3,218m in under
eight minutes, despite the best efforts of the likes of running legends Haile
Gebrselassie, Mo Farah and Eliud Kipchoge over the distance.
Led out superbly
by pacesetter Benoit Campion, the field made the most of a raucous crowd at the
Stade Charlety and also the Wavelight technology, the moving lighting posted on
the inside of the track that enables athletes to better adapt their pace.
Ingebrigtsen
took the lead with two-and-a-half laps to run as the second pacesetter, Kyumbe
Munguti, waved the Norwegian to the head of the lights as he bowed out.
Already the
world record holder for 1500m indoors, Ingebrigtsen made no mistake running
solo, storming through the finish line to shatter Komen's previous best and
deliver a serious warning to rivals heading into the world championships in
Budapest in August.
"Being able
to make this record feels amazing. It is my first world best outdoors,"
Ingebrigtsen said.
"I was a
bit surprised about the time in the end. The public was amazing, without their
help, it would have been more difficult."
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