Jakob Ingebrigtsen won gold in the men’s 5,000 meters at the Paris Olympics on Saturday. He took the lead halfway through the last lap and pulled away at the end, making up for his unexpected fourth-place finish in the 1,500 meters 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 completed the 12 1/2 laps around the Stade de France’s purple track in 13 minutes, 13.66 seconds, which was 1.38 seconds faster than silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi from Kenya.
Grant Fisher from the U.S. finished third with a time of 13:15.13, earning his second bronze of the 2024 Olympics, having also won a bronze in the 10,000 meters on August 2.
Ingebrigtsen raised his right index finger to signal being number one as he added this 5,000-meter win to his gold in the 1,500 meters at the Tokyo Games three years ago. His defense in the 1,500 meters earlier this week did not go well.
The much-anticipated race between the Olympic champ (Ingebrigtsen) and the world champ (Josh Kerr) ended with a surprising gold for American Cole Hocker, who came from behind to win.
Kerr took the silver for Britain, and Ingebrigtsen did not medal.
This time, Ingebrigtsen’s strategy worked in his favor. He stayed calm and kept in the middle of the pack while others led through easier 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.”
With about 300 meters left, he took control, moving to the front and increasing the gap between himself and the other runners.
