Jakob Ingebrigtsen on Sunday in Silesia, Poland shattered one of the longest standing track world records.
He clocked a staggering seven minutes 17.55 seconds for the 3000 metres race, taking more than three seconds off the mark of 7:20.67 set by Kenya’s Daniel Komen in 1996.
It was a huge performance at the 12th Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season for the 23-year-old Norwegian.
He had lost his Olympic 1500m title at the Paris Games earlier this month, but he won the gold medal in the 5000m.
Already third on the world all-time list with the 7:23.63 he ran in Eugene last year, he knew there was a big gap even to the second best performance of 7:23.09.
This was set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.
But on this day, Ingebrigtsen became a history man, moving clear of the field over the final lap.
This was after passing the bell, with the green wavelight world record indicators scattering behind him as if they had fallen out of his pockets.
By the time he hit the finishing straight he was, astonishingly, 10 metres clear of the green light snake and put his hands to his head after crossing the line.
Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi, the Olympic 10,000m silver medallist, produced the third best performance of all time as he crossed second in 7:21.28.
The new record is however subject to the usual ratification procedure by the sport’s global governing body, World Athletics.
