Never has the blue-riband event held up this much distinction on successive nights. Because anything Faith Kipyegon did, Jakob Ingebrigtsen invariably felt he could do better, only it wasn’t to be, the young Norwegian runner-up once again in the World Championship 1,500m.
Just like Oregon last year, Ingebrigtsen was out-kicked down the homestretch by a British runner, this time Josh Kerr, who stunned Ingebrigtsen and everyone else watching inside the National Athletics Stadium to take the gold medal in 3:29.38.
A crown fit for a king🤴🏻🇬🇧
— DyeStat (@DyeStat) August 23, 2023
Great Britian's Josh Kerr STUNS Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the men's 1,500m final in a season's best performance time of 3:29.38! #WABudapest23
📸: Getty Images for World Athletics pic.twitter.com/aL6rQvwME0
On the line, Ingebrigtsen was just about holding on for second, finishing in 3:29.65, his young Norwegian team-mate Narve Nordas winning bronze in 3:29.68.
Still a month shy of turning 23, Ingebrigtsen already has a bag of championship medals at home in Sandnes, 16 across the senior stage, this gold medal however one he unquestionably craved. The look of shock on his face said it all.
It means he still has to await a blue-riband treble: World, Olympic and European champion.
After famously declaring himself “embarrassed” by only winning 1,500m silver in Oregon last summer, out-kicked by Britain’s Jake Wightman, Ingebrigtsen was out to make sure this time: he duly took control of the race after just 500m, passing 800 in 1:54.19, before hitting the bell in front in 2:35.10.
Kerr was right on his shoulder down the backstretch, and while Ingebrigtsen did hold off his initial kick, there was nothing he could do once Kerr came again, the British runner adding to his Olympic bronze from Tokyo — winning this title for Britain 40 years after Steve Cram won the first one in Helsinki.
A year older, race-wiser, and faster we thought, lowering his European record to 3:27.14 in July — Ingebrigtsen will take some time to recover from this one, also upset in the World Indoor final last year, although he was suffering the lasting effects of Covid.
Ingebrigtsen will next turn his attention to the 5,000m, the event he won in Oregon, starting with Thursday night’s heats; surely another gold medal shot beckons on Sunday, but that rare 1,500m-5,000m double still eludes before he is spoken about as a Goat (Greatest Of All Time).
Kipyegon is already in that conversation: back inside the National Stadium for the 5,000m heats, less than 24 hours after winning the women’s 1,500m, a third World title to sit alongside her two Olympic titles (and world record of 3:49.11), she’s also chasing a first 1,500m-5,000m double in women’s World Championship history (although Mary Decker won a then 1,500m-3,000m in 1983)
At age 29, whatever about being the Goat in her event, Kipyegon is clearly having the season of her life, her last lap on Tuesday night covered in a similarly terrifying 56.6 seconds, her winning time 3:54.87 earning her another $70,000 (€65,000) too.
Diribe Welteji, the 21-year-old former World Under-20 champion from Ethiopia won silver in 3:55.69, Sifan Hassan kicking past Mageean down the backstretch to hold on for bronze in 3:56.00.
Hassan, with Kipyegon by the way, eased through those final 5,000m heats, and the 30-year-old Dutch woman will now chase a 10th global medal in that final.
That Ciara Mageean is racing right alongside this sort of super elite company, fourth on Tuesday in an Irish record of 3:56.61, chasing right to the line, is ample evidence of the level she’s now at.
It also gives the 31-year-old from Portaferry something to chase for year’s Paris Olympics, given these leading trio will likely be the women to beat again. World and Olympic medal winner Laura Muir of Great Britain was back in sixth in 3:58.58
“I do finally feel I’m where I belong, in the top of women’s 1,500m,” Mageean said. “I’ve shown I’m someone to be feared out there now, it’s not a bad place to be, going into an Olympic year. I still have to hold my head high. I gave absolutely everything out on that track. Being a bit disappointed with fourth in the World, in previous years I would have taken off your hand for that.”
Her effort was indeed supreme, also running a near-perfect tactical race, sticking to the curb and Kipyegon throughout. If Mageean is seeking any further consolation (along with her €16,000 prize, hardly golf money) she might consider that gently iconic Wall of Fourth of Irish distance runners; Eamonn Coghlan, in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics, and Sonia O’Sullivan, in the 1992 Olympics and 1993 World Championship 3,000m.
Both went on to win World Championship gold medals, Mageean’s next chance in Tokyo in 2025 certainly not past her still rising potential.
Thursday schedule (All times Irish)
- 06:00 — Men’s 35km race walk: final (Brendan Boyce)
- 06:00 — Women’s 35km race walk: final
- 18:00 — Men’s 5,000m: heats (Brian Fay)
- 18:30 — Men’s long jump: final
- 18:45 — Women’s 200m: semi-finals
- 19:15 — Women’s hammer throw: final
- 19:20 — Men’s 200m: semi-finals
- 19:50 — Men’s 800m: semi-finals (Mark English)
- 20:25 — Women’s 100m hurdles: final
- 20:35 — Men’s 400m: final
- 20:50 — Women’s 400m hurdles: final
Her superstition fulfilled, Sarah Lavin has broken the 13-year Irish record for the 100m hurdles, clocking a brilliant 12.62 seconds in the first of three semi-finals at the World Championships.
It’s bittersweet for the Limerick athlete, however, her fifth place finishing leaving her one spot outside of contention to progress to Thursday’s final.
Born on the same day as previous record holder Derval O’Rourke, exactly 13 years apart, her time improved the 12.95 O’Rourke clocked when winning silver at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona. Back to back remember.
For the 29-year-old Lavin, missing the final will be disappointing, although it’s a deeply competitive event, former world record holder Kendra Harrison from the US winning the semi-final in 12.33.
Crucially, Megan Tapper from Jamaica finished ahead of Lavin in fourth, in 12.55, with only the top two across the three semi-finals (and the two fastest losers) making that showdown.
Lavin’s previous best was 12.67, just 0.02 off O’Rourke’s old mark, and she also ran 12.69 seconds in Tuesday’s heats.
Defending champion and current world record holder Tobi Amusan from Nigeria also progressed, winning her semi-final in 12.56, her entry confirmed only last week after a provisional suspension for a doping whereabouts failure was lifted.
