Jakob Ingebrigtsen Declares He’s Going For Double Gold At Eugene Worlds, Says He Won’t Retire Until At Least After 2028 Olympics
By Robert Johnson
June 1, 2022
At the end of the 2021, there was some talk as to how long Olympic 1500 champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen would stay involved in the sport. Matt Wisner quoted him as telling his father, “Maybe I’ll run for another year. Maybe I’ll run for two years. I don’t know. I can’t see myself running in 10 years. I will do something else with my life.”
Well we’ve got good news, running fans. Ingebrigtsen told the media at the Prefontaine Classic over the weekend that he’ll continue in the sport through at least 2028.
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“That’s going to be a difficult job (to win three straight Olympic 1500 titles),” said Ingebrigtsen. “I’ve said that I have to keep going at least until ’28. Then I have to…. [contemplate what I’m going to do].”
Ingebrigtsen’s commitment to compete through 2028 came after he had been ask to write his goals for Paris 2024 on a notecard. He wrote, “Been there. Done that. Let’s be first to do back-to-back.” Once I saw the card, I had to tell him that Seb Coe, now the head of World Athletics, had already won by back-to-back 1500 Olympic 1500 titles in 1980 and 1984. So Ingebrigtsen added in another “to-back” onto the sign and is now going for the historic three-peat.
Oops. Ingebrigtsen doesn’t know that Seb Coe already went back-to-back.
Ingebrigtsen wants to go back-to-back-to-back.
Before then, Ingebrigtsen will look to become only the second person to win the 1500 and 5000 at the same World Championships as he confirmed he’ll definitely be going for the double this year. American Bernard Lagat is the only man to have won both at the same Worlds (2007).
Ingebrigtsen was then asked what his plans were for this year’s European Championships in Munich (August 15-21). Might he try even more events?
“I would love to do 800, steeplechase, 1500, 5k and 10k and marathon but I don’t think that is possible with the schedule,” quipped Ingebrigtsen.
Ingebrigtsen was joking but the reality is he might be able to medal at every event 1500 through 10,000. Remember, he ran the steeple at his first Worlds in 2017 and he’s the European XC champ at 10k.
Ingebrigtsen talking about competing through 2028
