Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway smashed a 24-year-old world record in the 2,000-meter race on Friday in the Diamond League competition in Brussels.
The 22-year-old, who is the world 5,000-meter champion and the Olympic winner at the 1,500-meter distance, posted a time of 4 minutes, 43.13 seconds on a humid evening in the Belgian capital, breaking the previous mark of 4:44.79 established by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.
Ingebrigtsen, who in June established a world mark for the distance of two miles in Paris, said that pacemakers who went a little longer than planned had assisted him. He now has a craving for further records, from his specialty of 1,500 meters to as far as a marathon.
“I believe I’ve reached a stage in my career where I can also challenge all records. Therefore, it will still be the objective in the future, he said during a news conference.
Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson in the 200 meters and Japanese javelin thrower Haruka Kitaguchi, who were named world champions last month, were among the other standout performers in the last Diamond League competition before the finals in Eugene the following weekend.
Jackson was far too strong for the competition. Still, after setting her sights on a world record on the new, faster Brussels track, she was forced to settle for a Diamond League event record of 21.48, which was seven-hundredths of a second slower than her world championship-winning run from last month in Budapest, which was the second-fastest women’s 200-meter time ever.
To defeat a talented field of female javelin throwers in the last round, Kitaguchi fired a 2023 world-leading distance of 67.38 meters.
Femke Bol, a Dutch world champion in the 400-meter hurdles, dominated the competition and established a meeting record in 52.11 seconds.
After a season marred by injuries, Olympic champion and fastest sprinter in the world, Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica, demonstrated a return to form by winning the 100 meters in a time that set a new personal best.
In a close race for the finish line in the women’s 1,500 meters, Britain’s Laura Muir required her season-best time of 3 minutes, 55.34 seconds to beat Ciara Mageean, who established an Irish national record with a time of 3:55.87.
