Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke the indoor world records for the mile and 1,500m in the same race at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meet in Lievin, France on Thursday.
Ingebrigtsen, 24, shattered the mark in 3:45.14 and did it just five days after Yared Nuguse set the record with a 3:46.63 at the Millrose Games in New York last Saturday.
“It feels amazing,” said Ingebrigtsen after the race. “This is what happens in Lievin. I’m a very happy man. You have to be focused for the whole race. It’s tough, but it’s worth it.”
The performance also set a record for the indoor 1,500m, breaking the mark Ingebrigtsen set in Lievin. On Thursday, he ran 3:29.63 at the 1,500m point on the way to the new record in the mile.
Ingebrigtsen electrified the crowed at Arena Stade Couvert in his debut indoor mile, staying close to the front of the pack early on and maintaining an aggressive pace.
At the halfway point, he was in solid position, in third with a 1:52.55 split through 800m as the first pacer inched away from the contenders. With three laps remaining Ingebrigtsen opened a wide lead and it appeared that challenging the record was a possibility.
He blew through 1500m mark in 3:29.63, grabbing the record at that distance and began his final kick as he was clearly ahead of the blue pace light on the track — with green lights behind it indicating that the mile record was a certainty.
Ingebrigtsen cruised into the final 100m and shaved a second and a half off of Nuguse’s time at Millrose.
Stefan Nillessen was second in 3:52.70 and Cathal Doyle finished third in 3:53.18.
News of the Ingebrigtsen’s new record traveled quickly through the running landscape, with Nuguse taking a lighthearted approach to seeing his mark fall within days.
“You win some you lose some, was a lit 5 days,” he said in a social media post.
