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Ingebrigtsen wins 3,000m gold to keep world indoor double bid alive / Photo: WANG Zhao - AFP
NYSE - LSE
Ingebrigtsen wins 3,000m gold to keep world indoor double bid alive
Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the 3,000m at the world indoor championships in Nanjing on Saturday to keep his quest for double gold on track.
Ingebrigtsen clocked 7min 46.09sec for victory in a thrilling race at Nanjing's Cube.
Ethiopian Berihu Aregawi, who won 10,000m silver at last year's Paris Olympics, claimed silver in 7:46.25, with Australian Ky Robinson taking bronze (7:47.09).
Ingebrigtsen will now turn his attention to his favoured 1,500m on Sunday in a bid to emulate Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie, who achieved the 1,500/3,000m double in Maebashi, Japan, in 1999.
A double Olympic champion and two-time world champion over 5,000m, Ingebrigtsen came into the competition on the back of victories in the 1,500 and 3,000m at the European indoor championships in Apeldoorn.
But, remarkably, a world indoor title had eluded the 24-year-old until he predictably took Saturday's race by the scruff of the neck.
In his last outing at a world indoors, Ingebrigtsen finished second in the 1,500m to Ethiopian Samuel Tefera in Belgrade in 2022. He then missed Glasgow last year with an achilles heel injury.
Ingebrigtsen, as his wont, was happy to sit at the back of the 14-strong pack as German's Sam Parsons took up the running in Nanjing, splitting the pack into single file.
The Norwegian didn't linger long after Parsons' surge, shifting gears to move up through the field to take the lead with 11 laps to go.
Placing himself at the front, free of any potential problem with mid-pack traffic, Ingebrigtsen ceded to the Ethiopian duo of Biniam Mehary and Getnet Wale.
Ireland's Andrew Coscoran took the pack through with seven laps to run, Ingebrigtsen sat in fourth.
Kenya's Cornelius Kemboi surged through and suddenly Ingebrigtsen found himself somewhat boxed in in sixth.
With 600m to run, the Norwegian made his move, going wide to get clear and sit in Aregawi's shadow.
Shoulder-to shoulder, the pair went through the bell together, just a 200m sprint ahead of them to the finish line.
Aregawi looked like he had it, but the Norwegian was on the Ethiopian's coattails and bade his time brilliantly until the back straight, launching a perfectly-timed final attack for a first world indoor gold.
I.Pfeiffer--BlnAP
