Jakob Ingebrigtsen smashes male 3,000m world record set in 1996

Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen shattered the long-standing 3,000 metres world record by more than three seconds at the Silesia Diamond League meet in Chorzow, Poland.

Ingebrigtsen finished in a time of 7min 17.55sec, erasing the record set by Kenya’s Daniel Komen in 1996 when he ran 7min 20.67sec in Rieti, Italy.

Ingebrigtsen’s previous best time over the distance came in September last year when he was nearly three seconds slower than Komen’s mark.

The 23-year-old was in shock when he crossed the line and looked at his time. Ingebrigtsen received a cheque for $50,000 and posed with it in front of the clock.

“It feels special, amazing. I was hoping to challenge the world record here, but based on my training, I can never predict exactly what kind of time I am capable of,” he said. “I would not have imagined I could run 7:17, though. At the beginning the pace felt really fast, but then I started to feel my way into the race and found a good rhythm.

“(The) 3,000 is a tough distance”, continued Ingebrigtsen. “After four-five laps you feel the lactic acid, but you need to get going. The conditions were difficult with the heat today, but it is the same for everyone. Now I want to challenge world records at all distances, but it is one step at a time.”

He finished ahead of a trio of Ethiopians, with Paris Olympics 10,000m silver medallist Berihu Aregawi second in a personal best and the third-fastest time in history (7:21.28). Yomif Kejelcha was third.

Three days ago, the Norwegian had exacted a small measure of revenge over American Cole Hocker by winning the men’s 1500m in Lausanne in 3min 27.83sec, two weeks after Hocker shocked the Olympic field to win gold in Paris.