Ingebrigtsen narrowly denies Timothy Cheruiyot victory in thrilling finish

Ivy Irungu

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.

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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.

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