Ingebrigtsen wins a fourth European 5000 m title in his first race since Achilles surgery
Boxed in coming into the straight, he found a gap and passed Florian Bremm in the last 50 m to win in 13:15.29 at Alexander Stadium.
Photograph: Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, by Erik van Leeuwen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsJakob Ingebrigtsen won the 5000 m on the opening night of the European Championships in Birmingham on Monday in 13:15.29. It was his fourth European 5000 m title in a row, his seventh European outdoor title, and his first race of 2026.
He had surgery on his left Achilles in February and had not raced since the World Championships in Tokyo last September, where he went out in the 1500 m heats and was tenth over 5000 m. In Birmingham he sat in the pack, was briefly boxed in on the approach to the home straight, found room, and went past Germany's Florian Bremm in the last 50 metres. Bremm took silver in 13:15.60 and Etienne Daguinos of France bronze in 13:16.09, just ahead of his compatriot Jimmy Gressier.
Ingebrigtsen told reporters he had "doubted myself every day" through the spring. He is not running the 1500 m here, after doubling at the last three editions. The night also gave Amy Hunt the 100 m in 11.00 and Norway a championship record of 3:09.62 in the mixed 4x400 m.
Eleven months without a race, then one race, one gold. The kick was never the part that was injured.
Sources: World Athletics; AP via Anchorage Daily News.
