SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Jakob Ingebrigtsen won gold in the men’s 5,000 meters on Saturday by going to the front midway through the last lap and pulling away down the stretch, making up for his surprising fourth-place finish in the 1,500 at the Paris Games.
Ingebrigtsen, a 23-year-old from Norway, completed the 12 1/2 laps around the Stade de France’s purple track in 13 minutes, 13.66 seconds — 1.38 seconds faster than silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi of Kenya.
Grant Fisher of the U.S. was third in 13:15.13, giving him his second bronze of the 2024 Olympics, to go with the one he picked up in the 10,000 on Aug. 2.
Ingebrigtsen raised the index finger on his right hand aloft in a No. 1 gesture as he added this 5,000 victory — in a relatively slow race — to the gold he won in the 1,500 at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
His defense in that event on Tuesday after setting a swift early pace did not go well. That was supposed to be a much-hyped head-to-head showdown between the Olympic champ (Ingebrigtsen) and world champ in the 1,500 (Josh Kerr) — two guys who do not like each other and don’t try to hide it — but a lesser-known American, Cole Hocker, came from well back to grab a surprising gold medal.
Kerr claimed the silver for Britain, and Ingebrigtsen ended up with no medal at all.
This time, the pacing worked to Ingebrigtsen’s advantage.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
