Jakob Ingebrigtsen rebounded from his Eugene Diamond League loss by narrowly defeating Timothy Cheruiyot in a thrilling photo finish cheered on by a home crowd.
The Norwegian, who is the reigning 1500m Olympic champion, executed a dive at the finish line to edge out Cheruiyot, who had made a strong surge around the 40m mark.
Ingebrigtsen’s winning time of 3:29.74 is the fastest recorded this year, signaling his intent as he prepares for the Olympics. Despite finishing second, Cheruiyot also impressed with a season-best time of 3:29:74, falling short of victory by less than a second.
His performance indicates a return to form for the Doha 2019 world champion, setting a promising tone for the upcoming Paris showdown.
“It was a good race, I felt stronger than last time. So today, it was all about my improvement, and at the same time, I wanted to do my best and to give the crowd the show.” Cheruiyot commented after the race.
Due to a knee injury sidelining the Kenyan runner, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Britain’s Josh Kerr stepped up to compete in the mile race.
In the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Ingebrigtsen triumphed over Cheruiyot with a time of 3:28.32, while Cheruiyot finished in 3:29.01. Kerr secured the bronze medal with a time of 3:29.05.
Cheruiyot recently finished fourth in the 1,500m at the National Championships, posting a time of 3:40.23. He was preceded by Boaz Kiprugut (3:39.23), Josephat Sang (3:38.74), and Brain Komen (3:37.91).
In the 100m event, South African Akani Simbine continued his impressive performance by clocking 9.94 to claim victory, followed by Japanese Sani Brown with a time of 9.99, and Emmanuel Eseme in third place with 10.01.
Olympic Champion Marcel Jacobs finished with a time of 10.03, while Olympic silver medalist Yohan Blake clocked 10.29.
